The Tribochemistry Award
Presented toDr. Stephen M. Hsu
In recognition of his outstanding contribution to tribochemistry by The Tribochemistry
Technical Committee (Chair: Dr. Keiji Nakayama), Japanese Society of Tribologists (JAST)
in September 2019 in “Tribochemistry Hakodate 2019”.

Dr. Stephen Hsu received BS from Virginia Tech, MS and PhD from Pa. State University.
During his PhD study under Prof. Elmer Klaus, he was introduced to lubrication andTribology. His thesis was to measure the reaction temperature under boundary lubrication
conditions. Using chemical kinetics monitoring the oil soluble organometallic compounds, hewas able to determine the reaction temperatures in boundary lubrication. He received theCaptain Alfred Hunt Medal for his work. Ever since then, he has been intrigued with thecomplexity of lubrication processes. How the lubricant bond to the metal surface? How wear
occurs? Upon graduation, he joined Amoco Chemicals to conduct research on lubricant
additive development, additive mechanisms and how to apply additives in formulations. After
four years, he joined National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to lead thetechnical effort to establish standards to enable the use of re-refined oils in the US.. In order tolink chemical composition to performance, he developed a suite of bench tests with statisticalcorrelation to ASTM Sequence Engine dynamometer tests. The combined results of thetesting provided the necessary data set to establish the equivalent Standard adopted by the US
Government in 1982.
In 1983, Dr. Hsu established the Tribochemistry Group at NIST to study the molecularinteractions of additive with metal surfaces. He pioneered the use of new instrumental
techniques, such as laser scattering to study additive agglomeration interactions; HPLCGFAA for quantitative measurement of organo-metallic species; Synchrotron radiation X-ray
absorption spectroscopy to study molecular orientation of adsorbed species together with highresolution FTIR and Laser Raman spectroscopies to probe the basic molecular-surface
interactions. These instrumental techniques provided the critical data for him to construct thesequences of boundary lubrication chemical mechanisms. He also designed and constructed ahigh sensitivity Chemiluminescence instrument to study the oxidation mechanisms and work1

with industry to develop novel antioxidants. In the 1990s, he started to work with NSIC
consortium on magnetic hard disk technology on monolayer lubrication and molecularlubrication of micro- and nano-scale devices. He conducted nano-scratch tests at that time todemonstrate the effect of plasma emission on enhanced chemical reactivity. During this time,
he worked with industry, Department of Energy and Department of defense on advanced
lubrication and lubricants for space, defense, and lubrication of non-conventional materials,
such as coatings and ceramics.
In 1984, he was appointed the first Division Chief of Advanced Ceramics at NIST, overseeingthe US National Ceramics program. In this role, he worked with DOE, DOD, Japan, Germany,and Finland under the International Energy Agency (IEA) to develop standards for ceramics
to facilitate international trade of advanced materials. A total of 75 international standards
were established by this activity. Besides leading the IEA effort at that time, he has continued
to lead the IEA agreement on advanced materials to this date with 9 countries and 30 research
institutes/universities.
While maintaining research effort in Tribochemistry, he started working on advance ceramics
for adiabatic engines, wear, wear maps, wear prediction, and multilayer ceramics. He
participated in the Wear conference and became the Chair in 1998. He also established anindustrial consortium of artificial joints replacement materials producers for 7 years, andworked on improved materials, new test methods, surface textures, and lubrication for thisindustry.
In 2001, he was part of the US Nanotechnology committee ushering in the nanotech world.
He developed nano-instruments to probe the physics and chemistry of nanoscale devices.
In 2008, he left NIST and spent 1 ½ years in City University of Hong Kong as Chaired
Professor and Head of the Manufacturing Engineering Department, while affiliated withGeorge Washington University where his students worked on surface texture design. In 2009,
he returned to GWU to be part of the GW Energy Initiative.
Over the years, Dr. Hsu has worked with various industries in develop measurement
technologies, new concepts, and innovations. Of the $25M research funding to date, some
40% came from industries directly. He has mentored over 130 students, visiting professors,and visiting scholars over the years.
He has published over 250 papers, a dozen of books/NIST Special publications, and invitedchapters. He has received 10 US patents and has filed 4 world patents which are pending. He
has published 3 best of the year papers. And he has delivered over 60 plenary/keynote lectures
on various subjects that he is engaged in. He has received many awards, including US
Department of Commerce Bronze Medal, Silver Medal, STLE International Award, Captain
Alfred E. Hunt Memorial Medal, Al Sonntag Award, and he is a Fellow of STLE and ASME.
He serves as Foreign Expert Reviewers on major programs for 7 countries.
Dr. Hsu has contributed to the ITCs and WTCs satellite forums on Tribochemistry for longyears from the first time in Tokyo 1995 to Hakodate 2019.
He is indeed a worthy recipient of the world’s highest honor in tribochemistry – The
Tribochemistry Award for 2019.

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