ADVANCES IN TRIBOLOGY - THE MATERIALS POINT-OF-VIEW

The application of advanced materials in various areas of contemporary technology can lead to improvements in the function, quality and perf ormance of engineering components and systems. In this paper, an overv iew of the developments in high performance materials, both organic an d inorganic based, is given. This includes thin hard coatings because of their increasing importance in tribological improvements. For these types of materials the requirements for tribe-engineering application s are analysed. Research results from BAM concerning ceramics and cera mic composites, polymers and polymer composites as well as hard coatin gs illustrate the friction and wear behaviour of these materials and t heir potential for tribe-engineering applications.