Polymers and polymer composites have been increasingly used in place of metals for various industries; namely, aerospace, automotive, bio-medical, computer, electronhotograohy, fiber, and rubber tire. Thus, an understanding of the interactions between polymers and between a polymer and a rigid counterface can enhance the anplications of polymers under various environments. In meet­ ing this need, polymer tribology has evolved to deal with friction, lubrication and wear of polymeric materials ann to anSwer some of the problems related to polymer-polymer interactions or nolymer­ rigid body interactions. The purpose of this first International Symposium was to introduce advances in studies of polymer friction and wear, especially in Britain and the U. S. S. R. Most earlier studies of the Fifties were stimulated by the growth of rubber tire industries. Continuous research through the Sixties has broadened the base to include other polymers such as nylon, polyolefins, and poly tetra­ fluoroethylene, or PTFE. However, much of this work was published in engineering or physics journals and rarely in chemistry journals: presumably, the latter have always considered the work to be too applied or too irrelevant.

Polymer Surface Lubrication and Solid Lubricants.- Introductory Remarks.- Visco- elastohydrodynamics: Lubricated Elastomeric Contacts.- Dry-Lubrication: Self-Lubricating Composites Versus Bonded Thin-Film Lubricants.- Polymeric Composite Materials for the Lubrication of Rolling Bearings.- Fluoropolymer Solid Lubricants.- Migration Phenomena in Silicone Modified Polystyrene.- Wear Characteristics of Silicone Modified Polystyrene.- Polymer Properties and Wear.- Introductory Remarks.- Friction, Wear and Surface Melting of Crystalline Polymers.- The Wear of High Molecular Weight Polyethylene with Particular Reference to its Use in Artificial Human Joints.- Variables Affecting Polymer Wear in Artificial Human Joints.- Structure, Properties, and Wear Resistance of Polyethylene.- Mechano-Chemistry and Polyvinyl Chloride Wear.- Friction and Wear of Polymeric Composites.- Introductory Remarks.- Thermally Anisotropic Plastics Bearing Materials.- Wear of Resin Asbestos Friction Materials.- Wear Mechanisms of Polymers at Cryogenic Temperatures.- Wear Characteristics of Fluoropolymer Composites.- Wear by Paper on Nylon Matrix Composites.