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Topic · Mechanical Engineering

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. 10.0% 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%
3.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+15%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
60% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Tribology and Lubrication Engineering

Which countries lead Tribology and Lubrication Engineering research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (3.3k and 537 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 3.3k works
  2. 2 India 537 works
  3. 3 United States 405 works
  4. 4 Germany 364 works
  5. 5 Japan 205 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 185 works
  7. 7 Russia 155 works
  8. 8 Italy 143 works
  9. 9 France 126 works
  10. 10 Poland 111 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.

China: 60.0%India: 9.6%United States: 7.3%Germany: 6.5%6 others listed: 16.6%60%largest
China3,349 · 60.0%India537 · 9.6%United States405 · 7.3%Germany364 · 6.5%6 others listed924 · 16.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Tribology and Lubrication Engineering research?

By volume in 2022-now, 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-now

  1. 1 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 126 works
  2. 2 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 86 works
  3. 3 Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 83 works
  4. 4 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 80 works
  5. 5 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 75 works
  6. 6 Chongqing UniversityChina 73 works
  7. 7 Tsinghua UniversityChina 70 works
  8. 8 Beihang UniversityChina 62 works
  9. 9 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 60 works
  10. 10 Wuhan University of TechnologyChina 56 works

Who are the leading researchers in Tribology and Lubrication Engineering?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Tribology and Lubrication Engineering include Xiaogang Wang, Lei Jiang and Qiang Zhang.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  2. 2 Lei Jiang China 214k citations
  3. 3 Qiang Zhang China 184k citations
  4. 4 Douglas Scott Canada 172k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Tribology and Lubrication Engineering?

The most cited paper in Tribology and Lubrication Engineering is "Verwendung von Schwingquarzen zur W�gung d�nner Schichten und zur Mikrow�gung" (G. Sauerbrey, 1959), with 9,643 citations. Next come "The Friction and Lubrication of Solids" (5,931) and "A survey of models, analysis tools and compensation methods for the control of machines with friction" (2,685).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Verwendung von Schwingquarzen zur W�gung d�nner Schichten und zur Mikrow�gung G. Sauerbrey · The European Physical Journal A Apr 1959 9,643
2 The Friction and Lubrication of Solids Frank Philip Bowden, D. Tabor, Frederic Palmer · American Journal of Physics Oct 1951 5,931
3 A survey of models, analysis tools and compensation methods for the control of machines with friction Brian Armstrong-Hélouvry, Pierre E. Dupont, Carlos Canudas de Wit · Automatica Open access Jul 1994 2,685
4 Theory of Thermal Grooving William W. Mullins · Journal of Applied Physics Mar 1957 2,653
5 An Average Flow Model for Determining Effects of Three-Dimensional Roughness on Partial Hydrodynamic Lubrication Nadir Patir, H. S. Cheng · Journal of Lubrication Technology 1978 2,309
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Tribology and Lubrication Engineering research done?

The largest centres of Tribology and Lubrication Engineering research in 2022-now 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-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 513 works
  2. 2 Xi'anChina 296 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 198 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 176 works
  5. 5 HarbinChina 175 works
  6. 6 WuhanChina 167 works
  7. 7 ShenyangChina 140 works
  8. 8 HangzhouChina 116 works
  9. 9 ChongqingChina 114 works
  10. 10 ChengduChina 98 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. LuoyangCN · 38.7 works13×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Tribology and Lubrication Engineering than the world average.

See Tribology and Lubrication Engineering on the map

Where is the best place to study Tribology and Lubrication Engineering?

Among universities, judged by research, Northeastern University, Southwest Jiaotong University and Central South 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.

0%20%40%mean 20.57%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Northeastern Univers…Central South Univer…Southwest Jiaotong U…Xi'an Jiaotong Unive…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Northeastern UniversityChina 82.531.1%9.9×52 +38.6%
2Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 71.522.7%9.8×44 +102.3%
3Central South UniversityChina 70.827.1%3.6×41 +33.3%
4Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 70.715.8%12.2×126 +12.3%
5Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 69.822.9%3.5×60 +18.0%
6Chongqing UniversityChina 69.522.1%11.4×73 -8.3%
7Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 66.413.9%16.5×86 +30.4%
8Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 66.116.2%12.3×83 +51.7%
9Wuhan University of TechnologyChina 65.519.1%11.7×56 +30.8%
10Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 64.714.8%8.3×80 +50.1%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Tribology and Lubrication Engineering, country by country

Is Tribology and Lubrication Engineering research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 15% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Tribology and Lubrication Engineering.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Tribology and Lubrication Engineering as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.032% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Tribology and Lubrication Engineering0.029% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Tribology and Lubrication Engineering over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Tribology and Lubrication Engineering9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

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.

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