Keynote Panel Discussion

To Coat or Not to Coat for Friction and Wear Control

Peter BlauBlau Tribology Consulting, North Carolina, USA
Andras Korenyi-BothTribologix, Inc., Colorado, USA
Somuri Prasad, Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico, USA

Application of coatings is one of many surface engineering approaches to enhancing the wear resistance of a surface, and minimizing the friction at moving mechanical interfaces. Often times, it is important to be able to recognize the merits and demerits of using a coating-based approach to address friction and wear. Are there indicators that suggest that this is indeed the preferred approach, or should an alternate method be explored rather than applying coatings? Experts in the field will briefly share their findings in contemporary approaches to selection, design and application of coatings for friction and wear control, followed by a discussion, and question and answer session.