Invited Paper TR+AC+TF+VT-ThM10
Carbon, Carbon Everywhere, from Catalysts to Hip Implants

Thursday, November 2, 2017, 11:00 am, Room 10

Friction is a pervasive problem, by some estimates consuming about 5% of the GDP of the economies of the developed world, and a recent analysis has indicated that about one third of the fuel energy in automobiles goes to overcoming frictional losses. While the importance of minimizing friction can be traced back at least as far as the tomb of Tehuti-Hetep, circa 1880 B.C, where a man can be seen pouring a lubricant to assist moving a statue, there are still many unknowns in the field of tribology which encompasses friction as well as other critical processes such as wear and lubrication. For many of the phenomena in tribology there are still numerous unknowns. When it comes to biological systems most work to date has assumed that different mechanisms are taking place than occur for inorganic systems. While there are differences, there are also significant similarities particularly in implants when inorganic and biological meet. We have recently shown that for metal implants in-vivo the same type of graphitic materials that appear in many areas ranging from heterogeneous catalysis to oil lubrication are present. Beyond just lubrication, corrosion of these materials is not special to biological systems, but has strong similarities to established factors such as grain boundary precipitation and a significant role for molybdenum as reducing the occurence of breakdown of the protective oxide film via complex processes involving solute trapping. These and related recent results will be described.