John Frederick Archard (1918–1989) was a British engineer known for his wear studies.

Career

John Frederick Archard went to the

Worthing High School for Boys Worthing High School is a secondary school with academy status located in Worthing, West Sussex. It caters for academic years 7-11 (ages 11–16) and has over 950 students on roll. History The school has its origins as the Bedford Row Pupil t ...

before he entered the University College of Southampton. Afterwards, he serviced six year in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

(RAF), including at the headquarters of

Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

. As a member of the RAF radar staff he also made a trip to Washington. In 1946, he returned to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

for post-graduate research in

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...

. Starting in 1949 he worked in the Surface Physics Section of the

Associated Electrical Industries Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) was a British holding company formed in 1928 through the merger of the British Thomson-Houston Company (BTH) and Metropolitan-Vickers electrical engineering companies. In 1967 AEI was acquired by GEC, to c ...

Research Laboratory, where he investigated the

lubrication Lubrication is the process or technique of using a lubricant to reduce friction and wear and tear in a contact between two surfaces. The study of lubrication is a discipline in the field of tribology. Lubrication mechanisms such as fluid-lubric ...

of heavily loaded contacts. In the 1950s he developed an analytical model used to describe

abrasive wear Wear is the damaging, gradual removal or deformation of material at solid surfaces. Causes of wear can be mechanical (e.g., erosion) or chemical (e.g., corrosion). The study of wear and related processes is referred to as tribology. Wear in m ...

based on the theory of contact of

asperities In materials science, asperity, defined as "unevenness of surface, roughness, ruggedness" (from the Latin ''asper''—"rough"), has implications (for example) in physics and seismology. Smooth surfaces, even those polished to a mirror finish, ar ...

, which became known in the literature as ''wear equation'' or ''

Archard equation The Archard wear equation is a simple model used to describe sliding wear and is based on the theory of asperity contact. The Archard equation was developed much later than (sometimes also known as energy dissipative hypothesis), though both ca ...

''. Archard was a

reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

Leicester University , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

until his retirement in the early 1980s. He ran a successful experimental

tribology Tribology is the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative Motion (physics), motion. It includes the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication and wear. Tribology is highly interdisciplinary, drawing on m ...

research program. He was a Fellow of the Physical Society and of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physica ...

. In 1989 he received the ''

Mayo D. Hersey Mayo Dyer Hersey (August 30, 1886 – September 5, 1978) was an American engineer, physicist at the National Bureau of Standards and other government agencies, and Professor of Engineering at Brown University. He received the 1957 ASME Medal, and th ...

Award'' for his scientific contributions in the field of tribology.

Private life

Archard lived in

Tilehurst Tilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It lies to the west of the centre of Reading, and extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road in the south. The suburb is partly within the boundaries ...

, was married and had two sons.

References

1918 births 1989 deaths 20th-century British engineers English mechanical engineers Tribologists People educated at Worthing High School {{Engineer-stub

Career

Private life

See also

References