Last month, tribologists from around the globe touched down in Orlando, Florida for the 76th STLE Annual Meeting & Exhibition.

More than 1,350 industry professionals from 30 countries attended the 5-day event to discuss all things pertaining to friction, wear and lubrication.

Talks from both academia and industry formed the bulk of the agenda, which comprised topics ranging from biotribology at nanoscale to roller-bearings for wind turbines. Additive Manufacturing also featured in multiple technical sessions, including my MAPP aligned doctoral work titled: ‘Investigating the friction and wear properties of Additively Manufactured polymer components’. This talk focussed on Laser Sintered polymer surfaces as well as their resultant friction and wear responses during running-in.

Highlights from the conference included the President’s Luncheon, where this year’s STLE award recipients and top volunteers were recognised for their efforts. As well as the keynote presentation delivered by Nissan titled: ‘Powertrain Evolution Toward Carbon Neutrality and a talk from NASA in which ‘Lunar Dust Effects on Space Mechanisms’ was discussed. Supplementary to the latter, we were fortunate to see Boeing and NASA’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launch from Cape Canaveral less than 48 hours later!

Thanks again to the Jost Foundation for the financial support that made this trip possible.

The countdown has already begun for the 77th STLE Annual Meeting and Exhibition which will be held in Long Beach, California.