This book is intended to help readers reduce the unwanted costs and ramifications of friction, wear, and erosion in tribosystems by recommending engineering materials that have proven to be successful in dealing with these issues. Recommendations on which tool materials work best, what are the most abrasion-resistant plastics, where should ceramics be used, and where do lubrication and coatings fit in are included. The purpose of the book is to offer engineering material suggestions that practicing material engineers have found to work in many applications based on more than 40 years of research and testing of tribomaterials.

The first few chapters review the fundamentals of friction and how to deal with friction in design. The following chapters describe types of erosion and wear and the tests that are used to screen candidate material. All the important engineering materials (steels, cast irons, copper alloys, stainless steels, plastics/elastomer, and ceramics) receive a chapter describing their tribological characteristics and results of lab testing on candidates for applications. Surface engineering to alter contact surfaces is addressed. The book ends with a chapter on the use of lubricants to reduce friction and wear and a chapter on biotribology that summarizes important concepts and studies dealing with friction and wear in biological systems. The last chapter discusses the methodology of selecting materials for use in tribosystems.

This book is purposely written in a conversational style making it accessible to anybody who has a friction, wear, erosion, or lubrication issue that needs to be addressed. There are questions at the end of each chapter for those who would like to teach an engineering course on tribomaterials. The book is also a source of another lab’s (Bud Labs) test results for review by tribology researchers.