Course Overview
Tribology: Friction, Lubrication & Wear
Understand the surface interactions that determine friction, efficiency, wear, and component life.
Study friction, lubrication regimes, surface interaction, wear mechanisms, contact behaviour, and methods for improving component life.
Why This Course Matters
Many machinery failures originate at contacting surfaces. Friction, lubrication regime, surface roughness, contamination, contact stress, and material pairing can drive wear or surface fatigue long before bulk structural strength becomes critical.
Materials and failure decisions sit at the intersection of design, manufacturing, loading, environment, inspection, and service history. Professionals who can identify damage mechanisms and interpret physical evidence bring greater clarity to reliability, integrity, and root-cause decisions.
This course is designed to close that capability gap with structured, engineering-focused learning that strengthens both technical understanding and professional judgement.
What This Training Helps You Achieve
Study friction, lubrication regimes, surface interaction, wear mechanisms, contact behaviour, and methods for improving component life. The training is designed to help you apply this knowledge with greater confidence across materials selection, inspection, failure investigation, structural integrity, and life assessment, while making assumptions, limitations, and technical reasoning easier to explain and defend.
Why Engineers Take This Course
Understand what happens at contacting surfaces
Develop stronger capability in tribology fundamentals and surface topography, and use that understanding to support more credible decisions in materials selection, inspection, failure investigation, structural integrity, and life assessment.
Match lubrication regime to operating conditions
Develop stronger capability in adhesive, abrasive, erosive, and fretting wear, and use that understanding to support more credible decisions in materials selection, inspection, failure investigation, structural integrity, and life assessment.
Diagnose wear and extend component life
Develop stronger capability in wear investigation, lubrication failure, and practical life-improvement strategies, and use that understanding to support more credible decisions in materials selection, inspection, failure investigation, structural integrity, and life assessment.
What You’ll Explore
- Tribology fundamentals and surface topography
- Friction mechanisms and coefficient-of-friction behaviour
- Boundary, mixed, elastohydrodynamic, and hydrodynamic lubrication
- Lubricant properties, viscosity, additives, and contamination
- Adhesive, abrasive, erosive, and fretting wear
- Rolling-contact fatigue and surface distress
- Contact stress and the link with contact mechanics
- Material, coating, and surface-treatment selection
- Wear investigation, lubrication failure, and practical life-improvement strategies
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain and apply the core principles associated with tribology fundamentals and surface topography.
- Interpret engineering information related to friction mechanisms and coefficient-of-friction behaviour.
- Evaluate practical considerations involving boundary, mixed, elastohydrodynamic, and hydrodynamic lubrication.
- Recognise key assumptions, limitations, and risks associated with adhesive, abrasive, erosive, and fretting wear.
- Use structured engineering judgement when working with material, coating, and surface-treatment selection.
- Connect analysis and technical evidence with wear investigation, lubrication failure, and practical life-improvement strategies.
- Approach tribology: friction, lubrication & wear work with greater technical confidence, discipline, and credibility.
Who This Is For
- Mechanical and reliability engineers working with machinery
- Bearing, gear, seal, and rotating-equipment engineers
- Maintenance professionals investigating wear and lubrication problems
- Design engineers working with contacting components
- Materials engineers interested in surface engineering and wear
Why Build This Skill Now
Engineering teams are expected to make faster decisions while still demonstrating sound technical judgement, traceability, and awareness of risk. Building capability in tribology: friction, lubrication & wear gives you a stronger basis for reviewing assumptions, challenging weak conclusions, and contributing more effectively when technical decisions matter.
If you want to strengthen your understanding of this subject, improve the quality of your engineering judgement, and build capability that can be applied across real projects, this course is a strong next step.
Related Topics
tribology, friction, lubrication, wear, wear mechanisms, surface engineering, contact mechanics, lubrication regimes, bearing wear, adhesive wear, abrasive wear, erosion wear, surface fatigue, coefficient of friction, machine reliability
