Corporate Body

CSIR Lubricants and Bearings Section (1939 - 1946)

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

From
November 1939
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
To
1946
Functions
Industrial or scientific research

Summary

Established in 1939, the Lubricants and Bearings Section of CSIR was renamed the Tribophysics Section in 1946.

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Details

From "CSIRO research for Australia" (1962) pdf page 56:
"When the Second World War broke out in 1939 Dr. F. P. Bowden, F.R.S., a noted Cambridge physical chemist, happened to be in Australia. At that time, Australia was in the process of establishing an aircraft industry. There was, however, nobody in the country familiar with the problems of manufacture of aircraft bearings and the Government of the day persuaded Dr. Bowden to stay in Australia to initiate studies in this field. Dr. Bowden was lent by his University to C.S.I.R., and soon established a small group which was called the Lubricants and Bearings Section, housed in the Department of Chemistry of the University of Melbourne.

Out of the group's war-time work emerged much of our present-day knowledge of the nature of friction. Special techniques for bearing manufacture were worked out, and bearings were actually produced at the University under the supervision of C.S.I. R. officers. The Section tackled several other important projects of practical importance to the war effort. One important achievement was the development of an electronic device for measuring the muzzle velocity of shells from big guns.

After the war, Dr. Bowden returned to England, and Dr. S. H. Bastow became Officer-in-Charge of the Section. The study of lubricants and bearings was extended to cover all aspects of the study of metal surfaces, and a new name, "Tribophysics", meaning "rubbing physics", was coined to describe the Section's work."

Timeline

 1939 - 1946 CSIR Lubricants and Bearings Section
       1946 - 1948 CSIR Tribophysics Section
             1948 - 1978 CSIR/O Division of Tribophysics
                   1978 - 1986 CSIRO Division of Materials Science
                         1980 - 1997 CSIRO Division of Manufacturing Technology
                         1987 - 1997 CSIRO Division of Materials Science and Technology
                               1997 - 2002 CSIRO Division of Manufacturing Science and Technology
                               1997 - 2002 CSIRO Division of Manufacturing Science and Technology

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Ailie Smith

Created: 28 June 2000, Last modified: 2 May 2025

EOAS ID: biogs/A000653b.htm

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