Vol. 40, No. 2 (2018), 165-182, DOI: 10.24874/ti.2018.40.02.01 Tribology in Industry www.tribology.rs VIEW RE A Historical Review of Gas Lubrication: From Reynolds to Active Compensations L. Lentini a, M. Moradi a, F. Colombo a a Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Turin, Italy. Keywords: A B S T R A C T Historical review Friction and wear are tribological phenomena that have produced Gas lubrication significant economic damage and environmental issues throughout our Aerostatic bearing history. Different kinds of lubricants and coatings have been employed in Active compensation the attempt of reducing friction losses. Because of their remarkable Passive compensation performance, gas lubricated systems are characterized by almost zero friction and wear. For this reason, they can be utilized in applications Corresponding author: where rolling and fluid bearings cannot, e.g., metrology, medical Luigi Lentini equipment and tool machine. This paper reviews the evolution of gas Department of Mechanical and lubrication through history. The topography of the subject is described Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico from its origins to how it was shaped over the centuries, trying to preserve di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi the logical cause and effect relationship of the events. For the sake of 24, 10129, Turin, Italy. consistency, the review considers only the key past contributions which are E-mail:
[email protected] strictly related to gas lubrication. © 2018 Published by Faculty of Engineering 1. INTRODUCTION performance, gas lubricants make it possible to significantly reduce friction and wear, thus Friction and wear are tribological phenomena providing systems with high positional that have produced significant economic accuracy and low environmental impact.