Fuels & Lubricants Magazine

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Lubricants and Lubrication
Engineering
Recommendation of the most relevant articles related
to materials research, friction reduction, machine health
monitoring, wear and environmental protection
Ante Jukić
Benefits of friction reduction
Unlike fuel, lubricants and lubrication research
takes place in a much more subject matter. Nevertheless,
the traditionally biggest field is various materials
research, and then there is a constantly growing area of ​
environmental protection that is being considered by
saving energy and increasing energy efficiency, the use
of renewable raw materials and vegetable oils, green
chemistry, and so on. The study Global energy consumption
due to friction in passenger cars (Trib. Int., 47, 2012,
221-234) presents calculations on the global fuel energy
consumption used to overcome friction in passenger cars
in terms of friction in the engine, transmission, tires, and
brakes. Friction in tribocontacts was estimated according
to prevailing contact mechanisms such as elastohydrodynamic,
hydrodynamic, mixed, and boundary
lubrication. Coefficients of friction in the tribocontacts
were estimated based on available information in the
literature on the average passenger car in use today, a car
with today’s advanced commercial tribological technology,
a car with today’s best advanced technology based
upon recent research and development, and a car with
the best technology forecasted in the next 10 years. The
following conclusions were reached. In passenger cars,
one-third of the fuel energy is used to overcome friction
in the engine, transmission, tires, and brakes. The direct
frictional losses, with braking friction excluded, are 28%
of the fuel energy. In total, 21.5% of the fuel energy is
used to move the car. Reductions in frictional losses will
lead to a threefold improvement in fuel economy as it
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38 Fuels&Lubricants No. 1 OCTOBER 2017