ABSTRACT
The centuries-old history of the study of friction and wear was marked in the second half of XX century by the formation of a specialized discipline – tribology. “ Tribology is a science and technology of bodies’ interaction processes in their relative motion”. Tribology is a young and rapidly developing discipline, the results of which are in very high demand by industry all over the world. An important step in the development of tribology was developing ideas about the presence of a third phase between the friction surfaces. Friction of solids mostly occurs when there are adsorption films on the friction surfaces. In friction theory, there are dozens of well-developed models existing at the same time, based on finely set and carefully executed experiments. The modern science of friction supposes the simultaneous existence of related but independent and even contradictory theories and models of friction and wear.
