a) Among 110 published scientific papers of the group, 4 recent papers need to be pointed out that are denoted as outstanding achievements (A''): • M. Kalin, M. Polajnar: The wetting of steel, DLC coatings, ceramics and polymers with oils and water: the importance and correlations of surface energy, surface tension, contact angle and spreading. Applied Surface Science 293 (2014) 97-108. • M. Kalin, R. Simič, T. Hirayama, T. Geue, P. Korelis: Neutron-reflectometry study of alcohol adsorption on various DLC coatings. Applied Surface Science (2014) 405-410; • M. Kalin, R. Simič: Atomic force microscopy and tribology study of the adsorption of alcohols on diamond-like carbon coatings and steel. Applied Surface Science (2013) 317-328; • R. Simič, M. Kalin: Adsorption mechanisms for fatty acids on DLC and steel studied by AFM and tribological experiments. Applied Surface Science 283 (2013) 460– 470. In these papers innovative approaches are presented, revealing outstanding findings that explain several uncertainties and even controversies in today's interface science. The first paper explains molecular interactions at certain solid-liquid interfaces, revealing the correlations between the surface energy, surface tension, wetting and spreading for the first time. The other three papers present results of another topic. Namely, a series of studies about potential of DLC boundary lubrication with polar organic-based green additives. For the first time, neutron reflectometry was employed to show the physical properties of these layers, as well as new approach by using AFM was introduced to evaluate adsorption behavior of these molecules. Most of these papers were published in just 1 or 2 months after submission and were immediately cited by other respected scientists, even in the same month when published on–line. These papers give a solid proof of the relevance of research of the group. b) Many other relevant papers were published on boundary lubrication of DLC, lubrication with nanoparticles, contact engineering (roughness and texturing), etc. In the last 5 years, the group has published 110 scientific journal papers, vast majority in the high-ranked SCI journals, some even in the best (Appl.Surf.Sci, TribolLett...). For example, Wear 267 (2009) 1232-1240, Thin solid films 518 (2010) 2029-2036, Tribology International 50 (2012) 57-65, Journal of engineering tribology. Part J (2012) 923-932, Lubrication science (2013) doi: 10.1002/ls.1233, Materials Science & Engineering A (2013) 243-251, Tribology letters (2013) 185-194, Applied Surface Science (2013) 317-328… to name just a few from different journals. In these papers the group presented numerous new ideas, functionalities, new concepts and reported several phenomena for the first time, which set the group members among those who define and lead the research in their fields. Overall, according to the publications including highest-quality achievements (A1), citations (A2) and relevance of research (A3) the group acquired a total of A = 95.34 points, see Table 1. The group has A'' = 474.80 points for outstanding achievements in the last 5 years and A' = 3030.17 points for high quality achievements. Current rank of the group leader Prof. Kalin is as high as the 3rd place among all 5.509 researchers within all classified Technical fields in Slovenia according to collective ARRS criterion (A=25.55). At the same time, this is also the 3rd place among all 14.292 researchers registered in Slovenia.
In period 2009-2014 that is relevant for this evaluation, the 10-years citation numbers of the group are as follows: The papers of the group were cited 1743-times as pure citations (without self-citations), which correspond to 2302 normalised citations (normalized by the average citations in the field) and group's Hirsch h-factor is 23 in the same period. Again, normalized by the average in the field, group's normalized h-factor is higher, Nh=29. This suggests that the papers of the group are more frequently cited than the average in the corresponding research fields. The number of citations for the group's three best researchers is at the ARRS uppermost level within this research field, as also indicated by the maximum evaluation score of ARRS criteria A2=10 for all of three mentioned researchers.
a) International awards After prestigious ASME Burt L. Newkirk Award and Slovenian second highest state award for scientific achievements Zois prize in the past review period, prof. Kalin received in 2012 one of the greatest honors in tribology, being elected a Fellow of the world tribology society STLE for his outstanding personal achievements and long term contribution in the field of tribology and lubrication engineering. Every year, STLE elects only 4-5 members worldwide to become Fellow members. There are only about 150 STLE Fellow Award recipients since 1973, prof. Kalin being the youngest ever elected. b) National awards In Slovenia, prof. Kalin and prof. Vižintin received their second awards from the Slovenian Society for Tribology in 2010, for their continuous dedication, as well as for international recognition of the society, respectively. Dr. Sedlaček received a Jožef Stefan golden emblem prize for his PhD dissertation: Influence of topography on tribological properties of contact surfaces. This prize is awarded every year for winning PhD dissertations in the fields of engineering, natural sciences, medicine and biotechnology. Each year a maximum of three prizes are awarded, indicating how very competitive this prize is. Four (4) students received Prešeren award at the Faculty of Mech. Eng. under mentorship of prof. Kalin for the best student’s thesis in the last years (Kogovšek, Polajnar, Oblak, Žugelj). E. Oblak further obtained Trimo company award for this thesis. Dr. Kogovšek already finished his PhD and continues work in a newly obtained post-doc project with a company Olma. All other three students are currently among several PhD students working in the group under guidance of prof. Kalin. c) Editor in Chief, Associate Editor, Member of Editorial boards, Guest Editor. In 2012, prof. Kalin became Editor-In-Chief- of Lubrication Science (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.), the only tribology journal with SCI impact factor fully dedicated to lubrication. There are only 7 tribology journals with SCI IF, which gives the emphasis to the meaning and importance of Editor position in the field of Tribology. Prof. Kalin succeed prof. Spikes, an eminent tribologists, after 20 years of his devoted editorial work. Prof. Kalin and prof. Vižintin were also involved as members of editorial boards in several other tribology journals. Such as Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Advances in Tribology, while prof. Kalin in addition also at ISRN Mechanical Engineering, Lubricants, and The Scientific World journal. Prof. Kalin also served as an Associate editor in Journal of Tribology for two mandates in 2006-2012. Prof. Podgornik and Kalin were also several times Guest editors for Wear, Lubrication Science and Tribology International.
a) Keynote lectures. Prof. Kalin is one of the most active researchers in the field of boundary lubrication, especially on the DLC coatings. Because of numerous publications and novelties introduced, prof. Kalin had an invited Plenary lecture in one of the world largest conferences with over 1,000 participants (International Tribology Conference ITC, Hiroshima, 2011) on Lubricant Additive Technology for Green Innovation, which is one of the major recognitions in his career. He presented a vision of the development of this area based on the latest technologies, supported by many, especially own, results in several directions. Based on this, he has been invited to present this work in a paper for journal Online Tribology, published by the Japan Tribology Association that holds high reputation in community, in spite not having SCI IF. Another Keynote lecture entitled »Engineering ceramics and their composites - tailoring material variables for tribological application« was given by prof. Kalin and prof. Basu at Wear Of Materials (Portland, USA, 2013) conference. WOM is the most respected conference related to wear of materials world-wide, with a tradition since 1970's; established by prof. K. Ludema and taking place only every two years. Being a keynote speaker in this conference holds as an indisputable honor in the field. This lecture was invited since prof. Kalin and prof. Basu (IIS Bangalore, India) published in 2011 a book “Tribology of ceramics and composites: a materials science perspective” by John Willey & Sons Inc, 2011, which got a lot of international attention. It is an over 500-pages book, and one of very few that discuss the tribology of these materials of high scientific and industrial relevance. b) Invited lectures. Members of the group had as much as 37 invited lectures at international conferences in 2009-2014 period, which is immense and meaningful for any group world-wide. The invited lectures were presented at almost all conferences, ranging from small high-profile and highly specialized – typical in boundary lubrication, to the most renowned and world's largest conferences. There is hardly any relevant international tribology conference world-wide; from USA, Canada, Europe, China, Japan, etc., where they would have not been as invited speakers in this period.
Project leaders The group is highly involved in many international projects, often being initiator of these. Since the year 2009, the group members have been leading the Slovenian part, or fully coordinating, several international EU FP6 and FP7 projects with high-profile international companies, such as Volvo Technology, Volvo Cars, SKF, Lubrizol, Mercedes, Total, Sulzer, TecVac, GKN, etc: 1. EU FP7: ENTICE - Engineering Tribochemistry and Interfaces with a Focus on the Internal Combustion Engine (2012-2016) 2. EU FP7: Matera SiNACERDI - Nanostructured composite materials and reinforced ductile iron for high wear (2011-2014) 3. EU FP7: 2020 Interface - Tailoring of Tribological Interfaces for Clean and Energy-Efficient Diesel and Gasoline Powertrains (2009-2013). EU FP7: MINILUBES - Mechanisms of interactions in nano-scale of novel ionic lubricants with functional surfaces (2008-2012) 4. EU FP6: WEMESURF - Characterisation of wear mechanisms and surface functionalities with regard to life time prediction and quality criteria – from micro to the nano range (2008-2009) 5. EU FP6: EUREKA ROPTIM – Production technology optimization for rollers from Semi High Speed Steel (2006-2009) 6. EU FP6: MATERA - Wear Resistant Ductile Iron – DIWEAR (2007-2009) 7. X-Tribology - Multifunctional surfaces and lubricants containing synthetic and renewable components - Long-term properties such as thermal-oxidative stability, corrosiveness and tribological behaviour (2010- 2013). 8. X-Tribology - Advanced multiphase tribo-functional surfaces - Wear mechanisms in hot forming applications (2010-2015). The group members are also very active in purely industrially-driven projects, often at international level. In this way, in 2010 we won a highly competitive World-open call for industrially oriented tribology research in Japan at Taiho Kogyo Tribology Research Foundation with a project: »Study of lubricating agents adsorption on DLC coatings using neutron reflectometry« (2010-2012), which was the basis for a novel and innovative research. Currently, the group is conducting industrially funded project to improve surface engineering of gear transmissions of some F1 and Nascar racing teams, i.e. »Contact engineering and lubrication design for gears (2013-)«, together with a company Sulzer. This is the most obvious indication of scientific and industrial relevance of the group, since the technology studied and developed in this project is the uppermost high-tech, and research partners are very carefully selected in the world-broad selection. Moreover, in the last years, the group was asked to fully coordinate another industrially funded international project on tribological optimization of traction drive, namely »Increasing RVT traction” (2012-2013), for the company Mazaro driving Innovations, together with oil/additive developer Lubrizol (UK) and major steel company Uddeholm (Sweden). In addition, a project on coated-glass wear resistance for mobile phones for an USA company - EIM Capital Partners (San Francisco) is currently conducted in the group. The group was also involved in several Slovenian national projects funded by ARRS, Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, Ministry of Defense, as well with direct contracts with Industrial partners: Olma d.d., Domel d.o.o., Silgan d.o.o., Danfoss d.o.o., Difa d.o.o., Unior Zreče d.d., Filc d.d., Elpa d.o.o., Dynacast d.o.o., Valji d.o.o., Veyance Technologies Europe d.o.o., BSH d.o.o., Acroni d.o.o., Tajfun Planina d.o.o., KGL d.o.o., Poclain hydraulics d.o.o. and MEBOR d.o.o.