The International Research Group on Wear of Engineering Materials (IRG-WOEM) is a unique body: an informal grouping of tribologists with a wide range of backgrounds, united with a common interest in the wear of materials. It was founded nearly 30 years ago, and holds discussion meetings every one to two years. The core of the membership is a group of national representatives from OECD countries, all active in the field of tribology, who provide a very broad international base. Members take it in turn to organise meetings, and the twenty five meetings, which have taken place so far, have moved all over Europe and also to Japan. The topics on which the IRG is active are:

• Tribotesting & Tribometers
• Tribo-data applications
• Lubricated systems
• Failure criteria
• Wear prediction

The main theme in the discussion meetings, which typically last two days and attract 20 to 50 participants, is informality and the freedom to discuss new, and in some cases controversial, results and... read more