The roundtable session is designed to foster intergenerational dialogue and provide valuable guidance to emerging tribologists. By bringing together senior and early-career professionals, it enables open, insightful discussions about the future of the field. Geared toward young tribologists, the session offers a unique chance to learn from experienced researchers and industry leaders as they share perspectives on new trends, technological challenges, and evolving career opportunities.

Moderator:

Prof. Salete Martins Alves | Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil)

Panelists:

Dr Alfredo Fantetti | Imperial College London (UK)

Prof. Carsten Gachot | TU Wien (Austria)

Prof. Hong Liang | Texas A&M University (USA)

Prof. Nicholas D. Spencer | ETH Zürich (Switzerland)

Exotic Tribology: Cartilage to Contact Lenses

Kartik Pondicherry^1, * and Paul Staudinger¹

¹Anton Paar GmbH, Anton Paar Strasse 20, 8054, Graz, Austria

*Email: kartik.pondicherry@anton-paar.com

Biotribology encompasses applications involving food and beverages, personal care, biological interfaces, and medical devices, where soft contacts interact with the human body. Although these interfaces generally operate under lower contact pressures than conventional tribological systems, their study presents unique challenges, including the selection of appropriate biological surrogates, contact configurations, test parameters, specimen conditioning, and data interpretation. This work presents case studies on food and beverages, the ocular system, skin, cosmetics, tissue, cartilage, implants, and personal care products, evaluated using a rheometer-based tribometer with application-specific contact configurations. In addition to extended Stribeck curves, breakaway friction measurements were performed. The results demonstrate the critical influence of specimen selection on tribological behavior, with appropriate surrogates enhancing the differentiation between samples. Furthermore, statistical analysis of food and beverage tribology data established correlations between frictional response and sensory mouthfeel attributes obtained from an expert panel.

Seamless collaboration between world-class research institutions and industrial pioneers is vital to advancing tribological innovation and solving complex engineering challenges on a global scale. This roundtable discussion focuses on developing robust international cooperation strategies that effectively align cutting-edge academic tribology research with practical industrial needs.

Moderated by Dr David Carlos Domingos (Director of International Business Development, Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology, Germany), the session brings together a distinguished panel of experts: Prof. Alvaro Toubes Prata (CEO, Embrapii - Brazilian Company for Industrial Research and Innovation, Brazil), Dipl. Ing. (FH) Christian Kunze (Deputy CEO, FVA - Research Association for Drive Technology, Germany), and Prof. Shirong Ge (China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, China). Together, they will share key perspectives on overcoming barriers and driving sustainable global innovation in the field.