Tribology Lab

Tribology is a multidisciplinary field studying friction, wear, and lubrication of surfaces in contact. Research in tribology is highly interconnected with contact mechanics, surface science, lubrication chemistry and many other fields.

The Tribology lab was created in 2008 after collaboration between NTNU and SINTEF through the Gemini Centre "Robust Material Selection and Design –Offshore Applications". Since 2021, the Tribology labs of NTNU and SINTEF have been physically separated, but scientific and industrial collaboration of researchers from NTNU and SINTEF continues as before.

The research in the laboratory focuses on many aspects within tribology: tribocorrosion; tribological problems related to dry and lubricated systems; lubricant formulation; tribocorrosion-fatigue and Multidegradation; nanotribology, and much more. The research in the lab supports the industry in finding solutions related to wear, lubrication, friction, and maintenance, and the lab is a meeting place for industries and European research centers and universities.

The tribology lab has the following equipment:

• Resmet tribocorr machine: Tribocorrosion sliding test rig capable of performing reciprocating tests at different OCP and potentiostatic electrochemical regimes.
• Rtec Universal tribometer: Universial tribometer with rotary and reciprocating sliding motion, load range from 1 mN up to 500 N, High-temperature modules up to 1000 °C, including a tribocorrosion cell, integrated 3D microscope (laser confocal and white-light interferometer) to follow wear volume during intermittent tests.
• Self-designed/proprietary tribometers: In the last years we have developed our own tribometers to have a better control on the testing and monitoring parameters, and to cover needs that go beyond commercial tribometers. We recruit our very competent mechanical engineering students and engage them in projects where they can use their knowledge to help us design and build our own machines, like the ones listed below.

• • Reciprocating tribocorr: test rig capable of performing reciprocating sliding tests, including tribocorrosion with a potentiostat/galvanostat.
  • Rotary tribocorr: test rig capable of performing rotary sliding experiments, including tribocorrosion with a potentiostat/galvanostat.
  • Small-scale Multidegradation test rig 1 (SSMD1): Multidegradation (tribocorrosion-fatigue) test rig with a bottom tribo-contact design performing reciprocating sliding tribo-motion together with static or dynamic 4-point bending in a corrosion cell connected to a potentiostat/galvanostat.
  • Small-scale Multidegradation test rig 2 (SSMD2): Multidegradation (tribocorrosion-fatigue) test rig with a top tribo-contact design performing reciprocating sliding tribo-motion together with static or dynamic 4-point bending in a corrosion cell connected to a potentiostat/galvanostat.
  • Dual gear test (FZG) / twin-disk tribometer: this rolling-sliding tribometer is two machines in one. It can operate as a gear test machine for testing lubricants for gear applications following the FZG gear test standards (ISO 14635, CEC-L-07, CEC-L-084, ASTM D 5182, ASTM D 4998, FVA 243, FVA 54, FVA 2/IV, FVA 345, FVA 371). And it can also operate as a twin-disk machine simulating rolling-sliding contacts (such as in wheel-rail interaction, but not exclusive to that application).
  • Vacuum tribometer: this tribometer was designed for space applications, but it can be used for much more than that. Its current capabilities include high vacuum camera (up to 10-6 torr), a tribometer with a sliding reciprocating motion, an abrasion module and controlled temperature from -150 °C up to 150 °C. The next upgrades will be in-situ surface chemical analysis.

Other equipment available in the lab are:

• SVM 3001 Viscometer/densitymeter: Kinematic viscosity and density measurements from -20 °C up to 100 °C.
• QSense Explorer QCM-D: Quartz crystal microbalance system connected to a peristaltic pump. Capable of performing e-QCM by using the electrochemical cell and connection to a potentiostat/galvanostat. Includes a microscopy cell for real-time monitoring under a microscope or an ellipsometry cell for combining QCM and Ellipsometry techniques.
• QCM-I Microvacuum: Quartz crystal microbalance with impedance measurements, capable of performing electrochemical QCM measurements at controlled temperatures.
• C3000 Nanosurf AFM: Surface imaging and nanotribology.

Moreover, the tribology lab has access to post-mortem analysis techniques such as FIB/SEM, EDS, EBSD, STEM, ToF-SIMS, and 3D optical microscopy in the same research group.

In addition, the tribology lab can be your partner for developing new lubricant formulations from base lubricant to new types of lubricant additives. We put special emphasis into developing new Environmentally Acceptable Lubricant formulations. We can also help you solving any tribology problem you might encounter in your system finding research-based solutions. For more information about our research work in tribology visit: www.tribology.info