| Abstract | It is well known that tribology is a multi-disciplinary field drawing on research and practice in materials and lubricants as well as component and assembly design. From the viewpoint of the practitioner, however, this rich diversity leads to problems in gathering intelligence. Not only are the results of tribology research and development published in a variety of specialized journals but the data are diverse and inconsistently described. While not the total solution, Scientific Numeric Database Systems do provide a practical means of addressing these problems. In crystallography which, for example, impacts on a large number of fields, many researchers have been routinely using numeric databases for years and have come to regard these systems as another tool in their trade. Similar trends are developing in molecular biology where databases of protein and nucleic-acid sequences are the only practical means of handline the prodigious amount of data being produced daily. Clearly, tribological data are much more difficult to standardize than either of the two examples just cited, but significant progress is being made. It is the purpose of this paper to describe some of the databases and systems already available to the tribologist and outline some of the developments planned. Three scientific numeric database systems with potential as tools for tribology will be described but space does not permit an exhaustive review. The intention is to give the interested reader a guide to further reading and contacts for additional informaion. The progression will be from the macroscopic (engineering properties) to the microscopic (fundamental properties). |
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