Low temperature tribology at the B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics & Engineering (historical review)

This review presents the history of creation and evolution of the Tribology Laboratory at Special Research & Development Bureau of the B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics & Engineering. It describes the low temperature tribometers designed at the laboratory, gives our understanding of the processes of protective secondary structure formation during friction providing higher wear resistance of materials under extreme frictional stressing conditions, reports the main results on the analysis of friction and wear in metals and alloys, solid lubricants and coatings and other engineering materials at low temperatures in vacuum and in low-pressure gases and also in various cryogenic liquids (liquid nitrogen, liquid hydrogen, liquid helium).