Kettering University Professor Publishes Definitive Book on Tribology

Ilya Kudish, a professor of Applied Mathematics at Kettering University, has published what could be called the definitive book on tribology, a 900-plus page tome entitled "Modeling and Analytical Methods in Tribology."

Tribology is the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion, including the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication and wear.

Kudish is one of 18 of the world's leading authorities on modeling of rolling contact fatigue. He and Michael J. Covitch, a chemist for Lubrizol, collaborated on the book that took five years to research and ultimately write. The two met right before Kudish received a National Science Foundation grant to study degradation of polymer additives to lubricants.

"We got acquainted and he participated in collecting the experimental data for the grant and discussing the modeling results," said Kudish.

Kudish and Covitch incorporated classical tenets of tribology into the text while providing new mathematical solutions that address various shortcomings in existing theories. He noted that the focus of the book is to improve the understanding of friction, lubrication and fatigue -- a fresh approach to tribology that links advances in applied mathematics with fundamental problems in tribology related to contact elasticity, fracture mechanics and fluid film lubrication.

Although Kudish uses some of the material in the book with his undergraduate classes, the material is more appropriate for graduate students, he said. "It was written as an enhancement of the tribology curriculum for senior undergraduate and graduate engineering and applied mathematics students, as well as a reference/guide for researchers and practitioners in the field."

Kudish, an ASME Fellow, is serving a second term as an associate editor of the ASME Journal of Tribology. Additionally, he was recently asked to contribute to the Encyclopedia of Tribology to be published in 2011.

For more on Kudish's book, visit: www.kettering.edu/visitors/storydetail.jsp?storynum=3041.

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