Facilities                                                                                                                           

		Profilometer (Taylor-Hobson Talysurf  10)   A benchtop apparatus used for recording the profile of mechanical surfaces and measuring their mean roughness Ra, parameters needed for the 2-D reproduction of the surfaces micro-geometry. The measurement is taking place during the sliding of a contacting stylus profilometer with a 2mm / 60 ºdiamond tip over the surface to be characterized.
		Portable profilometer (Taylor Hobson Surtronic 3+)   Portable mechanical profilometer, supported by the pertinent computer software. Its advantage with respect to the benchtop one is its capability of in-situ measurements that provides a rapid determination of the main roughness characteristics, as well as the possibility to perform area measurements that allow the determination of the wear volume over a wear track.
		Hertzian Contact apparatus (TM 262)   Portable demonstration device that allows visualisation on paper of the geometrical characteristics of the contact surface under elastostatic conditions. Two contraformal bodies of known radii are pressed using a manual hydraulic press. The geometry of the contact surface varies according to the relative position of the two bodies.
		Ball-on-disc tribometer (CSM Instruments)   Benchtop ball-on-disc tribometer for testing flat specimens under sliding friction conditions in a controlled temperature and relative humidity environment. Testing parameters that can be selected are: the counterbody, the normal load and the linear sliding velocity. The apparatus is supported by the pertinent computer (data acquisition, monitoring, recording and analysis) software.
		Pin-on-disc tribometer (Cameron - Plint TE 97)   Pin-on-disc tribometer, supported by “in-house” developed software that allows real-time recording of the sliding friction coefficient when a pair of pins from the material to be examined is sliding against a rotating metallic disc.
		Three-body abrasion tester Three-body abrasive wear is also referred to as dry sand abrasive wear. This wear test is governed by the ASTM standards. This wear test is performed various sizes of sand particles.
		Cavitation-erosion tester   Cavitation-erosion occurs on material surfaces that are exposed to intense ultrasonic cavitation. Cavitation-erosion testing is a fast method to measure erosion resistance of materials or coatings to intense stress and other erosion factors.
		Stereoscope (LW Scientific Z2)   A simple optical instrument used for the computer recording of low magnification 3-D images that allows the rapid inspection of worn surfaces.
		Optical microscope (Meiji ML7000)   An up to 1.000 times magnified digital image of the examined surface can be obtained using this metallographic microscope that is based on light reflectance on a grinding/ polished surface. It is commonly used to examine metallic materials microstructure.
		Digital camera (Moticam 1000)   A high resolution camera that can be adapted either to the stereoscope or to the optical microscope providing for digital imaging of the examined surfaces.
		Penetometer   Typical equipment for testing hybrid lubricants’ (greases’) consistency. Standard tests are based on the measurement of penetration depth when a metallic cone of standardized dimensions is allowed to sink into the grease for a given time period at 25 ºC, before and after shear stress insertion.
		Engler viscometer   Engler viscometer serves to measure the kinematic viscosity of petroleum products and it's variation with temperature, according to standardized methods. The Engler scale is based on comparing the flow of the lubricant being tested to the flow of distilled water. Viscosity in Engler degrees is the ratio of the flow time of 200 cm3 of the fluid which its viscosity is measured to the flow time of 200 cm3 of water at the same temperature, usually in the range of 20 up to 80 oC.
		Falex four-ball extreme pressure machine   A device that can be used for the measurement of the extreme pressure properties of lubricants under High Hertzian 3-point contact (4 balls) in pure sliding or pure rolling motion. It is used to determine the load-carrying properties of a lubricant under tribological conditions at high test loads  (boundary lubrication).
		Optical measurement elastohydrodynamic film profiles (TM 260.02) A steel sphere is pressed (up to 200N) against the underside of a driven glass disc. The light from a reflected light microscope passes through the glass disc and the film of oil at the point of contact and is then reflected from the surface of the steel sphere. The thickness of the lubricant film is determined visually from the colors of the interference rings produced.
		Journal bearing apparatus (TM 282)   A demonstration apparatus representing in a laboratory scale the operation of a lubricated system stator/ rotor, allowing the estimation of the lubricant’s flow field by applying Reynolds equation.
		Michell pad apparatus   A demonstration apparatus representing in a laboratory scale the pressure distribution across the oil film of a Michell tilting pad slider bearing. By applying Reynolds equation, the pressure gradient in the lubricant film can be estimated and by integration all over the pad surface the load capacity of the slider bearing can be calculated.