| Abstract: | The materials needed for tribological contact systems in the next millennium will depend on the trend and pace of technological development, and environmental policy. The latter will certainly demand lower pollution and energy consumption, so materials should preferably be light, and work in most friction systems without lubrication, but with low friction, and no wear. The following properties, or requirements, of future tribomaterials can be conceived of in such a scenario: it seems likely that micro‐mechanical systems will achieve great importance, but silicon must be either surface protected or replaced by an optimised material; light metal alloys must be conditioned by surface treatment or coating; coatings must be improved, e.g., by nanomaterials; ceramic materials sintered at low temperatures from nano‐powders will be ductile and machinable, but retain the other beneficial properties of ceramics; and ultra‐precise surface finishing of materials may lead to nearly friction‐free and wearproof tribocontacts. |
