Biomimetics in tribology - Recent developments

Abstract

The study and simulation of biological systems for desired properties is popularly known as "Biomimetics". Such an approach involves the transformation of the underlying principles discovered in nature into man-made technology. In recent times, biomimetics has become popular in the fields of materials science and engineering. It is being applied in diverse areas ranging from micro/nano-electronics to structural engineering and is now rapidly emerging in the field of tribology. Tribology is a multi-disciplinaxy and multi-scale study of adhesion, friction, and wear phenomena between contacting surfaces. The present article provides examples of bio-inspired topics and recent developments related to tribology. It covers the details of bio-inspired polymeric surfaces that exhibit low/high adhesion and of the friction properties at micro/nanoscales. Some examples of bio-inspired inventions that have already become technological solutions and of bio-materials that are guiding researchers to fabricate excellent wear resistant materials are discussed in this article.