Interfacial Mechanics
Theories and Methods for Contact and Lubrication

Understanding the characteristics of material contact and lubrication at tribological interfaces is of great importance to engineering researchers and machine designers. Traditionally, contact and lubrication are separately studied due to technical difficulties, although they often coexist in reality and they are actually on the same physical ground. Fast research advancements in recent years have enabled the development and application of unified models and numerical approaches to simulate contact and lubrication, merging their studies into the domain of Interfacial Mechanics.

This book provides updated information based on recent research progresses in related areas, which includes new concepts, theories, methods, and results for contact and lubrication problems involving elastic or inelastic materials, homogeneous or inhomogeneous contacting bodies, using stochastic or deterministic models for dealing with rough surfaces. It also contains unified models and numerical methods for mixed lubrication studies, analyses of interfacial frictional and thermal behaviors, as well as theories for studying the effects of multiple fields on interfacial characteristics. The book intends to reflect the recent trends of research by focusing on numerical simulation and problem solving techniques for practical interfaces of engineered surfaces and materials.

This book is written primarily for graduate and senior undergraduate students, engineers, and researchers in the fields of tribology, lubrication, surface engineering, materials science and engineering, and mechanical engineering.

Introduction. Properties of Engineering Materials and Surfaces. Fundamentals of Contact Mechanics. Numerical Methods for Solving Contact Problems. Fundamentals of Hydrodynamic Lubrication. Numerical Methods for Hydrodynamic Lubrication. Lubrication of Counterformal Contacts--Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication (EHL). Mixed Lubrication with Rough Surfaces. Thermal Behaviors at Counterformal Contact Interfaces. Behabiors od Interfacial Friction. Contact of Elastoplastic and Inhomogeneous Materials. Plasto-Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication (PEHL). EHL of Inhomogeneous Materials. Application Topics. Multifield Interfacial Issues and Generalized Contact Modeling. Appendix A. Appendix B. Appendix C. Appendix D. Appendix E. Appendix F. Appendix G. Appendix H. Appendix I. References. Index.

Q. Jane Wang received her Ph. D. in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University, IL, USA, in 1993. She taught for five years at Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA, and is now a Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Northwestern University, USA. She was elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 2009 and Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) in 2007. Her research interests are mainly in the areas of contact and interfacial mechanics and tribology of advanced materials and novel lubricants.

Dong Zhu received his Ph. D. in mechanical engineering from Tsinghua University of China in April of 1984. He started to work at the Center for Engineering Tribology, Northwestern University, USA, as a Research Fellow in January of 1986. He joined the Technical Center of Aluminum Company of America in the beginning of 1991 then Eaton Innovation Center in 1994, doing tribology and surface engineering related research and product development. After his retirement from Eaton, he was appointed to a Professor position at Sichuan University of China and Adjunct Professor at Tsinghua University. He is now an Adjunct Professor at Harbin Engineering University. He was elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 2007 and Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) in 2006. His research interests mainly include elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL), mixed lubrication, surface engineering and tribological testing.