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Lifestyle

Tribology isn't just for machines; it's found all around us in our everyday lives. From skin creams to pet foods, tribology is shaping how we interact with the world daily.

The lifestyle industry is ever-growing, and while it is a relatively new area for tribology research compared to mechanical systems, research in this field has grown rapidly in recent decades. This research is spread across the wide range of sectors that “lifestyle” covers, and many researchers around the world are utilizing PCS's instruments to facilitate these studies.

One example of an area of intense and expanding research is the tribology of personal care products. Researchers are working hard to link data from laboratory-based tribological testing to what is reported by consumers. Doing this enables the objective, quantitative assessment of formulations. With benchtop testing being substantially quicker and cheaper than most consumer panel testing, this process of tribological study enables more formulations to be tested and developed to result in the best possible product.

Using PCS's instruments, the process of applying a product to the skin can be mimicked, and the frictional properties of the lubricant (e.g., skin cream) can be determined. Samples can be tested using specimens with similar properties to those of the skin or to custom, user-defined profiles. The results produced can then be compared to market-leading products and feedback from consumer testing.

Relevant Instruments

Lifestyle industry research areas include:

  • Skin creams (cosmetic and medical)
  • Hair and shaving products
  • Dental pet foods
  • Cosmetics
  • Sports equipment design
  • Haptic feedback systems
  • Nail polish and varnish
  • Toothbrush design

Industry Applications & Challenges

Personal Care

How a product feels when used is critical to a consumer's experience. Skin creams, exfoliants, toothpastes, and more have been investigated.

Haptics

Touchscreen devices are continuing to become more common, so how we interact with them, how responsive they are, and how they feel to use is continually being developed.

Watches

High-end mechanical watches often have just one drop of oil in them to lubricate them for a lifetime. Making sure that oil performs exactly as required is therefore critical to a well-functioning, long-lasting watch.

Sports

Tribology is found in all levels of all sports, from the grip of a racket to your skis on the slope and can even be a matter of life and death for climbers with their chalk.

Pet Care

Pets can benefit from improvements to teeth-cleaning chews, and humans can learn from how animals interact with their environments, like sharkskin technology in racing swimsuits.

Motor Sport

Not only is tribology vital for engines, bearings, and gearboxes, in motorsport, even tire and braking performance needs to be optimized through tribological investigation.

Coatings

From nonstick pans to waterproof sprays, coatings are used everywhere, and how they interact with the surfaces they encounter has been investigated.

Food & Beverage

The mouthfeel of products is a growing field. Research has been conducted on everything from the creaminess of dairy products to the astringency of wine.

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Relevant Instruments

HFRR

The HFRRs simple, single-contact and low-load setup makes it invaluable in exploring a wide range of lifestyle applications such as skin fabric interactions and creams.

MTM

The versatility and flexibility of the MTM allows for a range of low-load soft contact applications to be researched from haptic devices to hair products.

Relevant Accessories

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