Simple and complex solids provide efficient, cost-effective environmentally friendly lubrication and wear protection for an increasing number of applications. Solid lubrication and wear reduction coatings were once the purview of NASA and companies in the aerospace industry. Now, they are showing up in an increasing number of applications here on the ground. The component materials for these coatings come from all over the periodic table. "Even with a relatively small number of materials, once you mix three or four things together, the matrix of what you can do is just immense," says STLE-member Jeff Lince, principal at Space Tribology Consulting. Varying the coating's morphology - amorphous or crystalline, macrocomposites, nanocomposites - creates even more options. Some coatings interact with their surrounding environments and each other to form tribofilms or nanoparticles that can almost eliminate the friction between two surfaces.
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