The history of the Stribeck curve and ball bearing steels: The role of Adolf Martens

The historical development on the discoveries of lubrication regimes for lubricated sliding contacts has been reviewed from the very beginning. It was found that the functional relationship between the coefficient of friction and the product of sliding speed and viscosity divided by the normal load well known as the Stribeck curve has been experimentally explored much earlier by Adolf Martens in 1888 long before Richard Stribeck did his pioneering measurements in 1902. However, basic work in this field of experimental hydrodynamics was done and results were published even earlier than that back in 1854 by Gustave A. Hirn, in 1879 by Robert H. Thurston and in 1883 by Beauchamp Tower.