ABSTRACT
The selection of lubricants, materials, or surface treatments for friction and wear-critical applications often involves validation or screening tests before final decisions are made. Testing is particularly valuable during the development of new machines for which operating conditions are much different than existing designs. An example of the latter might be a new design that cannot use off-the-shelf bearings or gears because the temperatures are too high or the surrounding environments are too corrosive. The steps involved in developing tribosimulations of current or newly designed systems are, with only one significant exception, essentially the same. The exception is that for an existing friction of wear problem, there is prior experience in the response of the materials and lubricants to the operating conditions. In a new design, however, there may be no direct prior experience in the behavior of candidate materials, although there may be some relevant experience from machinery of a similar kind.
