1. State of the art

In the past, the transfer of accumulated scientific and technical knowledge has been based on test sheets, manuals and various physical media. In recent years, computers have been increasingly used to control tribological testing, and to evaluate and model part behavior. While CAD currently takes into account knowledge of the mechanical, thermophysical and chemical properties of materials, it is regrettable that this approach has not integrated tribology to a greater extent . One explanation may lie in the fact that, according to the current "purist" viewpoint of most tribologists, tribological data represent the response of a system and, consequently, are not intrinsic properties...