This article presents a brief discussion on the main applications for low- and high-viscosity polyalphaolefins (PAOs) and highlights key areas of interest and shows why PAOs are used in these applications. It discusses the physical properties of passenger car motor oils (PCMOs) based on or containing PAOs. The properties include Noack volatility and pour point. The article also discusses the properties and applications of heavy-duty engine oil (HDEO), industrial lubricants, food-grade lubricants, greases, transportation gear oils, compressor oils, hydraulic fluids, and transmission fluids.

This article provides a broad overview of sliding and adhesive wear, its processes, and its control, with special attention to three general classes of materials: metals, ceramics, and polymers. It discusses the ways in which materials can be damaged and removed during sliding contact. The article explains the physical and chemical nature of sliding surfaces. It presents wear equations, design criteria, and criteria for selection of materials. The article also describes the factors that affect wear performance of hybrid sliding systems. It concludes by providing general guidelines to prevent the sliding and adhesive wear in metals, polymers, and ceramics.

Current understanding of polishing wear involves a combination of abrasive, plastic flow, and tribochemical wear. This article explains these mechanisms and the correlation between them. Some explanations about practical polishing wear control, applications, and future prospects are also given. This article discusses the influence of size and number of wear particles on polishing at three abrasive wear modes. These include cutting, wedge forming, and plowing. The article concludes with information on applications and prospects of polishing wear control.

Total joint replacement in orthopedic surgery can be achieved by excision, interposition, and replacement arthroplasty. This article details the most common materials used in total replacement synovial joints: metals, ceramics, and ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). The principal physical properties and tribological characteristics of these materials are summarized. The article discusses pin-on-disk experiments and pin-on-plate experiments for determining friction and wear characteristics. It explains the use of various types of joint simulators, such as hip joint simulators and knee joint simulators, to evaluate the performance of engineering tribological components in machine simulators. The article concludes with a section on the in vivo assessment of total joint replacement performance.

This article provides a summary of the biocompatibility or biological response of metals, ceramics, and polymers used in medical implants, along with their clinical issues. The polymers include ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene, nonresorbable polymer, and resorbable polymers.

This article discusses postconsumer plastics recyclate quantities, the classification of plastics recycling into primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary categories, and how the life cycle of plastics is affected by recycling. The recycling processes of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which accounts for the largest percentage of plastic recycling, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastics, the other large-volume plastic recyclate, as well as vinyl resins and polycarbonate resins are described. The life cycle of plastics has four phases: poly formation, part fabrication, product service, and disposal. Landfilling is still the primary method of final disposal, and incineration is another option, but recycling has become a viable alternative. The article presents a comparison between secondary and tertiary recycling.

This article describes elastomeric coatings that are suitable for painting flexible plastic substrates. It focuses on coatings systems that find utility in automotive exterior applications, where the requirements of appearance and durability are most severe. The article discusses acrylic polyols, condensation polymers, vapor curing systems, water-based coatings, and coatings for thermoplastic olefins.

This article is an atlas of fractographs that helps in understanding the causes and mechanisms of fracture of polymers, including polycarbonate, polyethylene, and polyimide, and in identifying and interpreting the morphology of fracture surfaces. The fractographs illustrate the quasi-brittle fatigue crack propagation, brittle and ductile fracture, crack-growth mechanisms, tearing, fibrillation, and fatigue striations of these surfaces.