Environmental analysis of self-lubricating composites: A review

Abstract

Human activities have affected the balance in the eco-system and put the habitant surrounding us in a catastrophic danger. Most of these wrecking effects which had been strengthened or emerged recently would also last for a long period of time. Taking immediate thoughtful actions are necessary to prevent high risk human activities. Based on the data collected for global surface mean temperature and CO 2 emission, it has been shown that a huge discrepancy in climate is already occurring. There are various reasons which are causing climate change, specifically global warming, which most of those would be discussed in this study. The negative effects of different materials on the eco-system have one of the biggest shares in environmental concerns. Emerging Eco-tribology science helped design products and processes for the environment. The design of products has been significantly modified to be more environmental friendly and sustainable. A brief review of tribology and different definitions, which had been changed during the time, will be discussed in this study. Furthermore, eco-tribology has a positive effect in reducing energy consumption and increasing the lifetime of the products. Lubricant is an example of the materials which produce environment destructive waste. In the recent decades, researchers improved the lubricant materials to be less destructive for the environment. Self-lubricant composites, for instance, significantly reduced the drawbacks of lubricant materials. The advantage is not only improving wear resistance and reduced COF, but also the elimination of the need for external lubricants. Aluminum/graphite (Al/Gr) composites have been used as self-lubricating materials due to the superior lubricating effect of graphite during sliding process. This study reviews the environmental concerns and advances of eco-tribological, lubricant and self-lubricant composites.