Abstract— The article is devoted to a general structural-energy analysis of the phenomenon of friction and consideration of a tribosystem as the central concept of tribology. Friction is studied as a transformational energy process with a systemic property and obeys the energy balance equation. The structural-energy model of elastic–plastic deformation of contact volumes is accepted as the main mechanism of energy transformation and dissipation during friction. The existence of a certain critical friction volume is indicated. The friction energy balance equation is considered, which represents friction as competition between two simultaneously acting, interrelated, and opposite micro-processes in the contact volume: the accumulation of latent (potential) energy of various defects in a crystal structure and its transformation and dissipation. The energy interpretation of the friction coefficient is given, and the diagrammatic regularities of the structural and energy evolution of rubbing surfaces (friction contact) are analyzed. The area of existence of an elementary tribosystem is determined. The regularities of the most complete evolution of equilibrium friction contact (elementary tribosystem) to the formation of a set of mechanical (nano) quanta—tribosubsystems—are formulated. An elementary tribosystem is defined as an integer consisting of a set. The study substantiates the practical areas of the diagrammatic existence of run-in and compatibility, the ranges of friction and antifriction, and the limits of technological and machine friction.
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