Page 146 - Challenges in Corrosion Costs Causes Consequences and Control(2015)

124 CORROSION COSTS

TABLE 2.8 Estimated Losses Because of Friction and Wear in Canadian Economic
Sectors
Friction Losses Wear Losses Total Losses
Category ($million/year) ($million/year) ($million/year)
Agriculture 321 940 1261
Electric utilities 54 189 243
Forestry 111 158 269
Mining 212 728 940
Pulp and paper 105 382 487
Rail transport 283 467 750
Trucks and buses 126 860 986
Wood industries 14 189 203
Total 1226 3913 5139

Tribology combines the many branches and specialties in science and technology
concerned with the understanding of design and combatting friction and wear. Specif-
ically, tribology is concerned with the design and manufacture of sliding and rolling
bearings, piston rings, gears, cutting tools, and other devices in which surfaces inter-
act, in sliding or other relative motion. Tribology is concerned with the correct use
of materials for interacting solid surfaces, with the interaction of surfaces with lubri-
cants with chemistry and physics. It is concerned with the reduction of friction and
wear and the avoidance of associated failures in machinery. Similar tribological com-
ponents such as bearings are used in different technologies, and similar tribological
problems such as abrasive wear occur in different industries. Thus, tribology is in
itself a generic science and technology concerned with the generation and dissem-
ination of knowledge on friction, wear and lubrication, and the application of the
knowledge to a wide range of industrial products and equipment, from ploughs to
space equipment, from prosthesis to engines, from washing machines to railways,
from computers to power stations, from paper mills to mines.
Avoidable losses because of friction and wear occur because many who are
involved in the design, specification, operation, and maintenance of industrial equip-
ment are unaware of current technology in tribology. There is also an inadequate
level of research and development in tribology, through which the reliability and
economy of industrial processes and products can be improved.
The estimates of losses and potential savings are in general agreement with the
estimates of this type produced in the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of
Germany, and the United States, increasing the confidence that can be placed in them.

2.3.2 Strategies Against Wear and Friction
Significant tribology programs were instituted in the United Kingdom, Germany, and
the United States and structured around considerable financial contributions from
the respective governments, while involving industry at the same time. “Tribology
Centres” were established in the United Kingdom with the financial support of the