Tribology and Surface Engineering Laboratory
The Tribology and Surface Engineering Laboratory at AUT is a multidisciplinary lab conducting research on different aspects of tribology. It's the first research lab of its kind in New Zealand.
We have an extensive range of industrial expertise on tribology-related problems that can be provided to New Zealand industry through joint projects, consultancy and problem-solving services.
Tribology: a key role in modern and future technology
Tribology plays an important role in almost all aspects of modern technology where one material slides or rubs over another and tribological performance is a crucial factor for engineering design. It's essential for the successful operation of engineered machines and natural mechanisms of all scales, and demands multifunctional surfaces.
Tribology is core to future transport and energy-efficient machines, the control of emissions and low-maintenance renewable energy systems, and to biomedical applications. To develop advanced components for these applications, it is necessary to understand and control basic friction, wear and lubrication processes at the sliding interface.
Research projects, facilities and collaborations
The lab is equipped with a range of modern test instruments for tribological and mechanical characterisation. Capabilities range from the evaluation for lubricants, fuels and additives to unique friction, wear and tribo-corrosion testing capabilities for advanced materials and surface coatings, specialised tribometers for high temperature testing as well as testing in special environments.
- Linear reciprocating tribometer (high temperature testing up to 600°C, high sliding speed)
- Rotary tribometer (high temperature testing up to 800°C, humidity control)
- Block on ring tribometer
- Rheometer
- Electro-chemical corrosion set-up
- Tribo-corrosion test set-up
- Micro-scratch tester
- Macro and micro-indentation testers
- 3D optical profilometer
- Stylus profilometer
- High temperature tensile testing machine
- Optical microscopes
- Spin coater with temperature control and vacuum chamber
- Dip coating machine
- Different 3D printers (FDM, UV resin printer, etc)
- Design and manufacturing of tribo-electric nano-generators
- Development of frictional metamaterials
- Tribology of self-lubricating composite materials
- Design and testing of load-bearing orthopaedic implants
- Analysis of coating systems
- Manufacturing and testing of artificial cartilage for osteoarthritis patients
- Tribo-corrosion and fatigue of dental implants
- Mechanical and tribological characterisation of metals manufactured by powder bed fusion techniques (selective laser melting, electron beam melting)
- Wear resistance and tribo-corrosion of superelastic NiTi bearings
- Design, testing and modelling of friction sliding damage-avoidance connections
- Development of wheel-rail contact and wear models
- Investigation of wear resistance and load carrying capacity of lubricants
- Characterisation of environmentally friendly lubricants
- Modelling of friction in metal forming processes
- Reduction of friction by surface texturing
- Tribology of advanced ceramic materials at elevated temperatures
We welcome enquiries about undergraduate and postgraduate projects, and can sometimes accommodate interns for short-term projects.
If you're interested in establishing a partnership or collaboration with the AUT Tribology and Surface Engineering Laboratory, contact us. We welcome researchers outside AUT who want to use our lab facilities.
We have connections and partnerships with people across New Zealand and around the world.
Current collaborations
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA
- Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution, Texas A&M University, USA
- Department of Macroscopic and Clinical Anatomy, Medical University of Graz, Austria
- Department of Materials and Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Auckland, New Zealand
- Australian Maritime College, The University of Tasmania, Australia
- Institute for Metal Forming Technology, University of Stuttgart, Germany
Members
Theme leaders
Students
- Anthony Okoani (PhD)
- Eunhyeuk Jeong (PhD)
- Seyed Sajad Mirjavadi (PhD)
- Tingzhen Deng (PhD)
- Ravisrini Jayasinghe (PhD)