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REVIEW article

Front. Coat. Dyes Interface Eng.
Sec. Hard Films and Coatings
Volume 2 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frcdi.2024.1426164
This article is part of the Research Topic Frontiers in Coatings, Dyes and Interface Engineering: Inaugural Collection View all 5 articles

TRIBOLOGICAL COATINGS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE APPLICATIONS

Provisionally accepted
Seungjoo Lee Seungjoo Lee 1Leonardo I. Farfan Cabrera Leonardo I. Farfan Cabrera 2Diana Berman Diana Berman 3Andreas Rosenkranz Andreas Rosenkranz 4Ali Erdemir Ali Erdemir 1*
  • 1 Texas A and M University, College Station, United States
  • 2 Tecnológico de Monterrey, Puebla, Mexico
  • 3 University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, United States
  • 4 Universidad de chile, Santiago, Chile

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Electric vehicles (EVs) represent a new paradigm for a sustainable transportation future with the potential to offer unparalleled energy security, environmental cleanliness, and economic prosperity for all humanity. However, rapid development and adaptation of this new transportation approach depend on addressing multiple challenges, including the development of new materials and coatings that can meet the more stringent thermal, electrical, and tribological requirements of EV drivetrains. Specifically, the operating conditions of moving mechanical assemblies (i.e., bearings, gears, among others) in EVs differ radically from those found in conventional internal combustion (IC) engines -thus giving rise to notable reliability issues. In particular, as the function of bearings and gear systems shift from mostly loadcarrying (in IC engines) to the torque-transferring mode in EVs, durability concerns of these assemblies due to severe deformation, wear, micro-pitting, fatigue, and scuffing may worsenas electric motors can generate maximum torque at near zero speeds but maximum efficiency at around 90% speed (this is opposite of conventional IC engines, which generate high torques at high speeds). These conflicting requirements require a different set of lubricant-material combinations to circumvent such problems under high loads and low-speed conditions of EVs. Therefore, new materials, coatings, and lubrication strategies need to be developed and implemented for future EVs to become tribologically viable and reliable. Accordingly, EV drivetrains can potentially benefit from advanced functional coatings that have already significantly improved the functionality of moving components of IC engines. The main objective of this article is to draw attention to some of the tribological issues in EVs and how advanced functional coatings can help resolve these issues due to their unique thermal, electrical, mechanical, and tribological properties, ultimately making EVs more durable and reliable.

    Keywords: Electrified conditions, Friction, wear, coatings, electrical properties, thermal management

    Received: 30 Apr 2024; Accepted: 21 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lee, Farfan Cabrera, Berman, Rosenkranz and Erdemir. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ali Erdemir, Texas A and M University, College Station, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.