Efficient Plant February 2018 - 16

feature | tribology
doesn't exist too often. Friction is complicated.
We've gotten a good mix of knowledge about
how to analyze wear and friction and learn
where it comes from."
At Chevron, Phillips focused on testing and
analyzing lubricant additives for new motor
oils. "We are specifically looking at boundary
lubrication," he said. "One key thing I used at
Chevron in the tribology lab in Richmond,
CA, was through researching Stribeck curves,
which define how friction is related to several
variables like speed and load. They use the
Stribeck curve to understand where an engine's
performance is coming from."
A common theme when studying lubrication is understanding what kind of film you
are dealing with and trying to predict the life
of the equipment, Phillips added. "In the lab,
we take whatever the problem is in real life and
try to mimic it in a controlled environment,"
he explained. "We use the same geometries,
load, speed, to make it as close as possible. We
receive real-world, hands-on application experience, in addition to classroom instruction,
scholarship support, internships, upper-level
technical lab experience, and research experience-all in one bundle."

RESEARCH-LAB TECHNICIAN
Zoe Tucker grew up in Huntsville, AL, in a
family of engineers. "My entire family is in engineering," she said. "Growing up, I didn't even
know there was an option to be anything but
an engineer. It was only a question of which
type of engineering. I'm the black sheep of the
family because I got into mechanical engineering instead of electrical."
Tucker is a fifth-year senior at Auburn in
mechanical engineering and plans to pursue
a doctorate in materials engineering. Her
passion is research, and advanced academia
is her path. "I first heard about the tribology
program during my first-semester chemistry
class," she said. "I thought it was interesting
and later became an officer in the TLSS (Tribology and Lubrication Sciences Society). I've

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been conducting research with Dr. Jackson for
several years."
During a past summer, Tucker worked
an internship with RSC Chemical Solutions,
makers of Liquid Wrench, in Charlotte, NC
(rscbrands.com). "The lab had people who had
been studying tribology for 25 years and I felt
very comfortable discussing tribology issues
with them because this program prepared me
so well," she said. "I was still learning, but was
comfortable and confident with my knowledge
level. We are getting useful skills, education,
and training to prepare us for the real world."
Tucker's ambition is to work at a research lab,
perhaps with the U.S. Department of Energy.
She received an Auburn undergraduate research fellowship and the Society of Tribology
and Lubrication Sciences Boozer fellowship to
support her research, in which she compared
transparent and opaque nanoparticle-enhanced lubricants.
"For this project, we used one lubricant that
is dark and has nanoparticles that darken the
lubricant," she explained. "You can teach the
user that this is normal, but to some extent it's
important to look at it and ensure that it's how
you expect it to look. The consumer may look
at it and say, 'This isn't what I'm used to seeing.'
We wanted to use a clear nanoparticle to see
if it had the same effects as the darker particle,
but without any change to the lubricant
performance. A grad student in chemical
engineering put together the chemistry of the
lubricants and then I tested them. In the end,
it was determined it didn't make a difference.
But it was interesting to see that there are some
nanoparticles that won't change the way [the
lubricant] looks. We hope we can continue to
do this kind of research so we can get some
that won't change the appearance but still do
the work it needs to do."
Tucker has worked with the tribology program for four years. "It's given me many opportunities I would not have gotten elsewhere,"
she said. "One thing is we go to the Society of
Tribologists and Lubrication Scientists (STLE)

conference every year. After attending three
times, I began to know people at the conference, and this gave me confidence to pursue a
doctorate."

MANUFACTURING-DESIGN
ENGINEER
Growing up in Ocilla, GA, Kaylee Wynn had
an early interest in engineering.
"My dad went to school for civil engineering
and owns a construction business with his
brother, so growing up on a farm and on the
construction site, I was always around machinery," she said. "As a kid, I was always curious
about how things worked, and I was also good
at problem solving and building anything I
could get my hands on. All these things pushed
me to go into the engineering field."
Wynn is now a second-year graduate student in Mechanical Engineering and has been
doing research on orthogonal metal cutting
infused with additive manufacturing with, Dr.
Lewis N. Payton, Ph.D., director of the Design
and Manufacturing Lab.
"This program has really helped me to
understand more than just what you read in
books and in classes," she explained. "Being
here in the lab with Dr. Payton has taught me
more hands-on skills and especially how to be
more creative and how to solve problems. I'd
love to find a job somewhere in manufacturing
and work my way up with the company. I want
to be involved in the designing of equipment.
In this lab, the students are taught how to use
the machines, but we take it a step further. We
are taught how to design machines in a way
that someone else can use them. The idea is
to make designs that are not impossible, but
realistic."
Wynn learned about wear and lubrication
through the tribology courses.
"For instance, in the Design and Manufacturing Lab we create parts by using several
different tools," she said. "The class taught me
about the wear of those tools and how lubrication can help to not only preserve tool life,

FEBRUARY 2018

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