Editorial: Superlubricity across the scales

Effective lubrication between a rotating shaft and its bearing housing is essential in rotating machinery to minimize friction, wear, and energy loss. With carefully controlled thickness and viscosity, the lubricant layer prevents metal-to-metal contact, ensuring smooth operation.
To calculate the required thickness of the lubricant layer, the tangential velocity at the shaft's surface must first be determined. This velocity is calculated by converting the rotational speed to angular...

Journal bearings are mechanical components that support and provide lateral stability to rotating shafts and axles. They are crucial in reducing friction, wear, and vibration in machinery such as engines, turbines, and pumps. The principle behind journal bearings is forming a thin lubricant film between the bearing surface and the rotating shaft, which minimizes direct contact and reduces frictional forces.
To better understand the concept of journal bearings, consider a rope winch with dry or...

Dry friction occurs when two solid surfaces slide against each other without any lubrication or fluid present. It causes resistance when pushing objects along a surface, like a gardener pushing a wheelbarrow. The force applied to move the cart causes dry friction between the wheel and the ground.
Before the wheelbarrow starts moving, the static frictional force acts tangentially to the contact surface, opposing the force that is about to induce the motion. This frictional force prevents the...

Dry friction occurs between two solid surfaces in contact as they attempt to move relative to one another. In daily life, dry friction is encountered in various forms, such as when walking on the ground, sliding an object across a table, or rubbing hands together. Despite its ubiquity, the underlying mechanisms behind dry friction are not readily visible.
To illustrate this concept, imagine a wooden crate resting on a rough, non-uniform horizontal surface. When an external force is applied to...

Friction is an essential concept in physics, engineering, and everyday life. It is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of such motion between two surfaces in contact. One of the most common types of friction encountered in various applications is dry friction. Dry friction problems can be broadly categorized into three types, each with unique characteristics and challenges.
The first type of dry friction problem involves situations where there is no apparent impending motion....

When a body is in motion, it encounters resistance because the body interacts with its surroundings. This resistance is known as friction, a common yet complex force whose behavior is still not completely understood. Friction opposes relative motion between systems in contact, but also allows us to move. Friction arises in part due to the roughness of surfaces in contact. For one object to move along a surface, it must rise to where the peaks of the surface can skip along the bottom of the...