49
IX. REQUIRED FUNDING RESOURCES
Without knowing the specific approaches that will be proposed to solve the above problems, it is
not possible to predict accurately the time and budgets that will be needed to solve them.
Nevertheless, it is not unreasonable to expect that each major topic will require 5 to 50 person-
years of effort. Together, that probably will amount to several hundred person-years, which
would cost approximately $50 million. While that number is small compared to the billions of
dollars of potential annual savings, it is not small compared to traditional DOE budget levels for
research into friction, wear, and lubrication.
not possible to predict accurately the time and budgets that will be needed to solve them.
Nevertheless, it is not unreasonable to expect that each major topic will require 5 to 50 person-
years of effort. Together, that probably will amount to several hundred person-years, which
would cost approximately $50 million. While that number is small compared to the billions of
dollars of potential annual savings, it is not small compared to traditional DOE budget levels for
research into friction, wear, and lubrication.
It is recommended that in the first year, projects be started in the areas of coatings, lubricants,
and failure mechanisms, with the other topics added in subsequent years as the budget allows.
and failure mechanisms, with the other topics added in subsequent years as the budget allows.
DOE funding should be about $2 million for the first year, $4 million for the second year, and
eventually reach $7 to $10 million as all areas of research become active. Assuming that roughly
half of the funding would go directly to industry and be matched on at least a one-to-one basis,
total funding over 5 years would approach preliminary rough estimates of what will be required.
eventually reach $7 to $10 million as all areas of research become active. Assuming that roughly
half of the funding would go directly to industry and be matched on at least a one-to-one basis,
total funding over 5 years would approach preliminary rough estimates of what will be required.
A summary of the yearly resource requirements for each of the highest-priority research areas is
given in Table 9.
given in Table 9.
Table 9. Resource Requirements (in million dollars) for Top-
Priority Projects on Reducing Friction and Wear
R&D Area
FY 01
FY 02
FY 03
FY 04
FY 05
Total
Surface-Modification Technologies
0.7
1.1
1.6
1.6
1.0
6.0
Chemistry of Lubes & Additives
0.7
1.1
1.6
1.6
1.0
6.0
Failure Mechanisms
0.5
0.7
1.0
0.8
0.2
3.2
Advanced Computer Codes
0.9
1.6
1.6
1.0
5.1
Predictive Bench-Top Tests
0.5
1.0
1.0
0.3
2.8
Other
0.1
0.1
0.5
0.7
0.5
1.9
TOTAL
2.0
4.4
7.3
7.3
4.0
25.0