It has been widely known that tribological interfaces have unexpectedly high activity in chemical reactions among solids and environmental liquids and gases. The phenomena are collectively called tribochemistry. Tribocorrosion is another old research field that concerns the prevention of tribological components from corrosive degradation by the surrounding media. A number of books dealing with tribochemistry and tribocorrosion have already been published. They clarify how fast chemical reactions are accelerated in each field. However, little is known about the precise mechanisms of these intriguing fields of study.
This book focuses on the triboemission of low-energy electrons from the freshly generated surface. These electrons play the most crucial role in the chemical reactions at the tribological interface. The new ai and TIP (thermodynamics of irreversible processes) models covered in the text describe in detail the behavior of emitted electrons, which lower the activation energy of chemical reactions. The first book to be published on tribocatalysis, it highlights tribocatalysis phenomena as examples of the lowering of the activation energy.
About the Editors
Czesław Kajdas (1932–2017) was a professor at the Institute of Chemistry, Warsaw University of Technology, in Płock and worked for the Automotive Industry Institute (PIMOT) in Warsaw, Poland. His research concerned tribochemistry, tribocatalysis, and activation energy for catalytic and tribocatalytic processes. He developed the negative-ion-radical action mechanism (NIRAM) theory. Prof. Kajdas was the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s technical advisor for tribology, lubricants, and fuels in Asia, South America, and Africa.
Ken’ichi Hiratsuka is a professor in the Department of Innovative Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan. His research focuses on the fundamental mechanisms of the interactions among solids and environmental gases, e.g., wear particle formation. His scientific activities encompass the physics and chemistry of tribological interfaces: triboelectrification, triboluminescence, tribochemistry, and tribocatalysis. He is currently the chair of the technical committee on wear research of the Japanese Society of Tribologists.
