World Tribology Congress Opening Address by H. Peter Jost, President ­ International Tribology Council

World Tribology Congress Opening Address by H. Peter Jost, President ­ International Tribology Council

A World Congress, such as this World Tribology Congress (WTC '97) has three principal objectives.

First, there should be a presentation of the latest stage of research and developments in tribology.

This objective, and especially the demonstration of developments in research, traditional and new,and of a high level is likely to be outstandingly successful. Indeed the whole programme of this Congress is an excellent display of the state-of-the-art of the science of tribology and ­ as such ­ probably unique. The programme committee must, therefore, be congratulated on this achievement.

Second, it should present an opportunity for tribologists from all over the world to meet, to establish personal relationships, to exchange views, and to up-date themselves in the state-of-the-art and to find new friends, and this Congress has all the potentials for this objective being successfully met.

Making contacts between individuals, cross fertilisation of their ideas, and not forgetting contacts and arrangements by Tribology Societies or Groups with one another, is as important to tribology as is the scientific and technical content of the many papers,posters and lectures.

In spite of being members of the same umbrella organisation, namely the International Tribology Council(ITC), there is too little contact between most of the world's Tribology Societies, too much inward looking, too much introspection.

In whatever country we operate, limited resources do not permit us to do as much as we wish. Therefore,joint international activities ­ not necessarily on the scale of the World Congress ­ should be much in the minds of the Committees of the ITC Member Societies. There are already good examples, such as Nortrib, Balcantrib,ASME/STLE (American Society of Mechanical Engineers/Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers) conferences which are regular joint endeavours that have been successful, and that do not put too much strain on individual societies.

I, therefore, put it to you formally that representatives of ITC's Member Societies at this Congress and those wishing to form Tribology Groups or Societies should get together during this Congress to establish closer links and more regular contacts, even if only by a regular exchange of letters and ­ above all ­ by sending information of their individual and joint activities and all happenings in the field of tribology for inclusion in the Tribology ITC Information Sheets.

That brings us to the third and probably most important objective, viz. the economic and competitiveness aspects of tribology ­ the link with the user.

Tribology is not a cocooned subject, nor can it exist on its own; it is a means to an end and that end is improved quality and performance, meeting new environmental requirements,lower costs, better energy use, in other words, increased industrial competitiveness.

The best and most advanced results of research and development in tribology, stored in a cupboard or left unused, will not be of much use. They will only justify the efforts and the resources spent on them if they are applied. Tribology must not only have a USER, but that USER must also be part of the tribology scenario. He must broadly know what tribology is and above all what it can do for him, not only by user directed R&D but also by user-oriented design and application. It is a general fact that most tribology societies and groups do not sufficiently identify themselves with the end-user of tribology, and often even less with the funding bodies, be these Government departments, educational establishments or industrial undertakings. Not unexpectedly manufacturers of tribology materials,whether lubricants, bearings, friction materials and the like, are doing their best to promote their wares, and there is no shortage of competitive advantages stated in their literature and publications and this is good.

Also, where tribology is a vital component, e.g. in space, nuclear environment, etc., the user exerts the market pull. But outside these groups, comprising only about a quarter of tribology, there is a wide gap and there is lack of education in and promotion of tribology.

From this it follows that,if in the other 75 per cent or so areas of tribology awareness and understanding including education are not promoted, tribology's economic and competitive role cannot be fully recognised, and consequently the subject will suffer, and ultimately interest and funding will diminish and industry and a country's economy will be the loser.

In this context, it might help you to be reminded how the concept of tribology, "the science and technology of interacting surfaces in relative motion", came into being and especially why it spread worldwide extremely speedily. At the joint IMechE and Iron and Steel Institution conference in Cardiff in 1964, one session had the title "Damages and Breakdowns, believed to have been due to Lubrication and their real Causes". During this session engineers from many countries showed slides of cemeteries of broken steel plant. It was quite obvious that most of these did not have their causes in what was conventionally known as lubrication.

These findings were brought to the notice of the late Lord Bowden, then Minister for Science, who set up a committee of investigation into research, education and ­ above all ­ industry's needs.

The report by the group of industrialists, academics and educational experts was completed within six months and the now well-known findings were obtained. However, before finalisation the senior official in charge of the Ministry's science side, who was much impressed by the findings, expressed the need for the quantifications of the obtainable savings. "Unless you tell government or industry in terms of pounds, shillings and pence ­ the only language they understand ­ how much can be saved by the application of this new concept (i.e. tribology), your report will gather dust among many others".

This was excellent advice and work started in quantifying the savings easily obtainable through the application of tribological principles. They were vast, amounting for the UK to£515 million p.a. at the time, which in today's terms would be over £1.5 billion. No government, no industry could lightly ignore such figures which amount to just over 1 per cent of GNP. Even more thorough investigations in Germany, the USA, Canada and China confirmed the estimated realistic savings to be between 1-1.4 per cent of GNP. Therefore, it was not merely the great truth but recognition of the economic advantages that led to the rapid worldwide recognition of tribology.

Yet, over the years this link between applied tribology and its benefits has weakened in many countries. Instead there has been a trend towards academic research and away from application and the financial benefits arising from it. Why is this so?

Let us admit, while tribology research is intellectually very stimulating, this is not always so to the same extent in the educational and awareness promotional fields, but they are essential to retain public interest and public funding, and they too can become very exciting.

The current trend has already led to a loss of interest and understanding by many of the ultimate users of tribology and thus by governmental and other funding bodies. In many cases they are now insufficiently aware of the large financial and competitive benefits that can be obtained by tribology and of the methods required to achieve these benefits, nor of the sometimes enormous costs that ignorance of tribology can lead to.

This trend must be reversed. Academic research is vital, and must be supported, but it must not be in place of industrial directed developments, education in and application of tribology, nor of its constant promotion, especially directed at the next generation. We must regain the lost user-participation, and ­ where a tribology society is part of an engineering body ­ regain the active support of that parent body. Otherwise there will inevitably be reduced recognition of tribology ­ this, in spite of its increasing importance in our fast developing technological world, inevitably leading to reduced funding by government and by industry ­ except probably only in those few areas in which tribology is recognized to be vital, e.g. space.

It is the task of all ITC tribology societies to ensure that their activities embrace education and the end-user, i.e. the steelworks, the ship builder, the cement plant, the railroads, the computer and magnetic storage departments, etc. but especially engineering design offices and that ­ above all ­ the economic and competitive advantages of tribology, and the disadvantages and losses that can be suffered if tribological considerations are ignored ­ for whatever reason ­ be driven home, and loudly so. Ultimately, governments should be made and especially kept aware of the national economic effects of the application of tribology and these ­ as we know ­ are vast.

How can it be done? A simple guide might be given by an old American ditty that goes:

He who whispers down a wellabout the goods he has to sellwill not make as many dollarsas he who climbs a tree and hollers

Let us, therefore, holler to all those who can benefit from tribology and let us do so with solid facts and figures ­ and they must be solid ­ the significance of which can easily be understood by non-tribologists, which includes engineers,administrators and politicians.

And with these calls for action, I wish you a successful, informative and enjoyable congress.