Tribology and Lubrication Engineering
Tribology and Lubrication Engineering is a research topic within Mechanical Engineering. Science Explorer counts 39k research works in it since 1950. 12.6% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.
This cluster of papers focuses on the advances in surface texturing techniques and their impact on tribological performance, including friction reduction, hydrodynamic lubrication, and engineered surfaces. The research covers topics such as laser surface texturing, roughness parameters, automotive tribology, global energy consumption due to friction, and surface metrology.
- Laser Surface Texturing
- Tribological Performance
- Friction Reduction
- Hydrodynamic Lubrication
- Roughness Parameters
- Engineered Surfaces
- Tribological Interfaces
- Automotive Tribology
- Global Energy Consumption
- Surface Metrology
- Research works
- 39k fractional, since 1950
- In the world top 10%
- 4.9k per year above
- Top-10% rate
- 12.6% share of its works in the world top 10%
- Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
- +8% the tick is no change
Which countries lead Tribology and Lubrication Engineering research?
By volume, China and India publish the most (2.9k and 485 works in 2022–2025).
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 China 2.9k works
- 2 India 485 works
- 3 United States 376 works
- 4 Germany 342 works
- 5 Japan 192 works
- 6 United Kingdom 169 works
- 7 Russia 145 works
- 8 Italy 133 works
- 9 France 121 works
- 10 Poland 101 works
How concentrated that is
The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.
Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.
Which institutions lead Tribology and Lubrication Engineering research?
By volume in 2022–2025, Xi'an Jiaotong University publishes the most Tribology and Lubrication Engineering research, followed by Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Northwestern Polytechnical University.
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 113 works
- 2 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 76 works
- 3 Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 75 works
- 4 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 73 works
- 5 Tsinghua UniversityChina 62 works
- 6 Chongqing UniversityChina 61 works
- 7 Beihang UniversityChina 58 works
- 8 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 52 works
- 9 Northeastern UniversityChina 49 works
- 10 Wuhan University of TechnologyChina 48 works
Who are the leading researchers in Tribology and Lubrication Engineering?
The most-cited researchers publishing on Tribology and Lubrication Engineering include A. Charnes, Roland Siegwart and Johann W. Kolar.
- 1 A. Charnes United States 4.5k citations
- 2 Roland Siegwart Switzerland 3.3k citations
- 3 Johann W. Kolar Switzerland 3k citations
Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.
Where is Tribology and Lubrication Engineering research done?
The largest centres of Tribology and Lubrication Engineering research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Xi'an (China), Shanghai (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Luoyang.
Largest cities, 2022–2025
Where it is the local speciality
- LuoyangCN · 34.7 works13×
Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Tribology and Lubrication Engineering than the world average.
Where is the best place to study Tribology and Lubrication Engineering?
Among universities, judged by research, Northeastern University, Xi'an Jiaotong University and Chongqing University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.
One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.
| # | University | Score | Top 10% | Specialisation | Works | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northeastern UniversityChina | 75.6 | 32.2% | 9.3× | 49 | +64.1% |
| 2 | Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina | 69.2 | 19.8% | 11.7× | 113 | +3.7% |
| 3 | Chongqing UniversityChina | 66.6 | 21.5% | 9.3× | 61 | +40.7% |
| 4 | Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina | 66.0 | 21.1% | 10.8× | 75 | -15.2% |
| 5 | Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina | 61.6 | 16.3% | 14.3× | 76 | -7.2% |
| 6 | Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina | 60.7 | 21.3% | 8.9× | 42 | +22.4% |
| 7 | Lappeenranta-Lahti University of TechnologyFinland | 58.9 | 16.6% | 14.0× | 8 | +120.2% |
| 8 | Beihang UniversityChina | 57.6 | 17.9% | 8.8× | 58 | -11.8% |
| 9 | Wuhan University of TechnologyChina | 55.7 | 14.2% | 9.9× | 48 | -10.7% |
| 10 | Harbin Engineering UniversityChina | 55.5 | 18.9% | 10.0× | 31 | -32.2% |
Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.
Is Tribology and Lubrication Engineering research growing?
Output in 2018–2022 was 8% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Tribology and Lubrication Engineering.
The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.
Which topics inside it are moving
Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.