Tribology Services

The Tribology group of IAR offers more than 40 years of proven expertise and full-scale instrumented test facilities. The mission of the Tribology group is to help its clients and partners extend the life, and optimize the performance, of their mechanical equipment and rotating machinery — at higher operating speeds, under heavier loads, and in harsher operating environments.

The Tribology group of IAR offers more than 40 years of proven expertise and full-scale instrumented test facilities.

IAR provides independent research, development and consultancy services to clients and partners from both government and industry. In doing so, the Tribology group aims to provide the best available services for tribological testing, analysis and modeling. They offer practicable solutions to problems dealing with the lubrication, friction and wear (tribology) of mechanical equipment and rotating machinery.

Projects vary from one-day consultancies to research and development projects spanning one year or more. IAR partners and clients include both manufacturers and end-users of rotating machines and machine components, such as bearings, gears, filters and lubricants. We offer full technical and service support in these areas:

• Full-scale instrumented test facilities with dedicated data-acquisition systems
• Performance analysis of bearings, seals, gears and lubricating systems
• Modelling of bearings, rotor-bearing dynamics, Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, abrasive interfacial layers and flow-analysis using CFD
• Evaluation of new load-bearing materials
• Evaluation of lubricants, and contamination control devices
• Viscometry
• Field investigations of failed components.

Test facilities.

Test Facilities

The Tribology group offers unique, full-scale instrumented bearing test facilities, backed up by dedicated data-acquisition systems. All bearing test facilities are suitable for use with either mineral or synthetic based lubricants.

Other fully instrumented test facilities include a wear tester for abradable and honeycomb turbine engine seals. In addition, the group offers standard friction, wear and lubricant bench testing equipment, and a full range of viscometers for measuring the viscosity of lubricants and other liquids.