The Tribochemistry Award
Presented toDr. Hugh Alexander Spikes
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”.

Hugh Alexander Spikes was born in London in October 1945 and grew up in Birmingham incentral England. From 1965 to 1968 he read Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge,
with a focus on Chemistry, before joining the Lubrication Laboratory in the MechanicalEngineering Department at Imperial College London in 1968 to study for a PhD under thesupervision on Professor Alastair Cameron. He obtained his PhD for research entitled
Physical and Chemical Adsorption in Boundary Lubrication in 1972 and then worked as aresearch assistant on the design of helicopter lubricants and other projects before joining thestaff of the Mechanical Engineering Department as a Lecturer in 1978. He has continued toteach and to supervise research in Tribology at Imperial College ever since, becoming Readerand joint Head of the Tribology Group in 1992 and Professor and Head of the Group in 1996.
In 2011 he retired from the academic staff and was reemployed as a Senior Research
Investigator and Emeritus Professor to focus on Tribology research, continuing to serve as
Head of the Tribology Group until 2016. Under his guidance the Tribology Group has grown
to five full time academic staff and more than 50 current PhD students and postdoctoral
research assistants and fellows. Professor Spikes still supervises PhD and postdoctoral
research within the Tribology Group at Imperial College
The focus of Professor Spikes’ research has been on the molecular origins of the behaviour oflubricants and has spanned all the lubrication regimes from hydrodynamic through toboundary lubrication. Two particular fields of research interest have been the development of
new experimental techniques and tribochemistry.
In 1989 Professor Spikes and his team extended the optical interferometry method to measurevery thin films, down to about one nanometer. This enabled boundary lubricant films to bestudied in situ in high pressure contact for the first time and has led to major advances in our1

understanding of thin film lubrication. The ultrathin film interferometric test apparatus
developed by Professor Spikes is currently in routine use in numerous oil and additive
companies and several academic establishments around the world.
Professor Spikes has worked extensively in the study of film-forming lubricant additives andtheir influence on friction and wear. His work on thin film lubrication has helped resolved thelong-standing debate about the thickness of organic friction modifier films and has led to newstrategies for the development of fuel-efficient engine oils that are now widely used by theadditive industry. His research on ZDDP and other phosphorus-based antiwear additives
provided the first definite evidence of the thick film, solid-like nature of the films formed bysuch additives during rubbing and the consequent origins of their antiwear performance.
Recently he highlighted the importance of mechanical stress in controlling the rates of many
tribological processes and has demonstrated conclusively that some lubricant additive
reactions are driven by shear stress and are thus a manifestation of mechanochemistry.
An important feature of Professor Spikes’ research is that much of it, despite being
fundamental in nature, has been carried out in collaboration with industry. This is reflected in
more than 120 joint publications with collaborators from more than 30 companies. This closeindustrial connection has also ensures that Professor Spikes research has had strong impact
not only within the academic tribology community but also within industry.
Throughout his career Professor Spikes has published more than 300 refereed research papers
and has received ten best paper awards, from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers(IMechE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Society ofTribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE). In 2004 he was awarded the InternationalAward from STLE, the Mayo D Hersey Award from ASME and the Tribology Trust
Tribology Gold Medal for his research contributions to Tribology. He is a Fellow of theIMechE and of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Dr. Spikes has contributed to the ITC and WTC satellite forums on Tribochemistry for many
years including the very first one in Tokyo 1995.
He is indeed a worthy recipient of the world’s highest honor in tribochemistry – The
Tribochemistry Award for 2019.

2