Perfecting Motion®

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 13 of this podcast series we continue STLE's celebration of women in tribology.  Our Executive Director, Rebecca Lintow, interviews STLE members Mandi McElwain, Senior Account Manager at Univar Solutions, and Fran Lockwood, President of Solar Energy Solutions, on their contributions and challenges as women in the field of tribology.  For more information on Women i...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 12 of this podcast series, we explored tribology testing and how it can be used to improve sustainability.  In this Episode, we explore the use of rheology testing for the same purpose. Rheology is the study of the deformation and flow of solids and liquids. Rheology has applications in materials science, human biology, pharmaceutics, engineering, food science and geoph...

Send us Fan Mail The role of tribology in facilitating the move to sustainability does not just involve reducing friction and wear in industrial machinery and automobiles, but also is critical in gaining a better understanding of what we eat and what steps can be taken to improve the availability of healthier foods. This episode focuses on the topic of chocolate and research that is ongoing to bet...

Send us Fan Mail Tribology, the scientific study of lubrication, friction and wear, is as old as the world itself and can be found in almost every application. The word itself was not entered into the English dictionary until 1966 at the time of The Jost Report. The use of tribology to solve friction and wear problems through the life cycle of a product from manufacture, use and recycling can be u...

Send us Fan Mail The search for finding a way to commercialize vehicles that generate no emissions has led the automotive industry to work with batteries and fuel cells. But another approach is to take the basic internal combustion engine (ICE) and substitute hydrogen as a fuel for both gasoline and diesel fuel. This podcast examines the potential for hydrogen internal combustion engines. In this...

Send us Fan Mail Nuclear power is emerging as a viable energy generation option that does not release greenhouse gases in contrast to fossil fuel energy sources. While the nuclear power industry has come under scrutiny due to past issues with specific plants, overall, the industry practices excellent safety protocols and nuclear power plants operate in a very safe manner. Currently, nuclear power...

Send us Fan Mail As the move towards sustainability continues, attention needs to be paid to sourcing raw materials that can be designated as sustainable. Since all raw materials used in formulating lubricants are chemical substances, this leads to a discussion about green chemistry and how it can be used as a way to produce sustainable lubricants. This episode features a conversation with Dr. Dav...

Send us Fan Mail Global plastic waste generation has doubled over the past 20 years with two-thirds of the waste having been produced over the past 5 years. Microplastics, smaller than 5 millimeters (0.2 inch), is a growing concern in our air and water. Plastics now account for 3.4% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling has been ongoing for some time but only 9% of all plastics used...

Send us Fan Mail The automotive industry is moving away from automobiles powered by internal combustion engines to battery electric vehicles to reduce emissions and improve sustainability. But internal combustion engine-powered vehicles will not be going away any time soon. Steps being taken currently to improve the sustainability of the internal combustion engine will be discussed in this podcast...

Send us Fan Mail Nanotribology is a growing field within tribology that studies the interactions of materials at the nanoscale which is an extremely small domain. In an effort to reduce friction and wear, improve efficiency and reduce emissions, a better understanding of how friction and wear can be minimized at the nanoscale is very important. This podcast discusses nanotribology with two experts...

Send us Fan Mail 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is growing in the manufacturing sector because it provides an approach for making complex parts without generating waste. This technique is working well for plastic resins, but 3D printing metal alloys has been more challenging. In this episode, we speak with two experts conducting research on the 3D printing of metal alloys to ga...

Send us Fan Mail One approach for perfecting motion through the reduction of friction and wear is to examine the potential benefits of tribochemistry. This growing field gives researchers the opportunity to design a machinery system that takes advantage of the interaction of a specific lubricant with a particular metal surface under its operating conditions. The resulting products of the interacti...

Send us Fan Mail As the world faces challenges due to the threat of global warming, regulatory pressure has been applied to find ways to reduce the generation of carbon dioxide and other emissions. The transportation sector is under increasing scrutiny because it contributes the highest level of emissions in the U.S. at 28.2% according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  The automo...