TLT: How long have you worked in a lubrication-related field, and how did you decide to pursue a career in the lubricants industry?
Maldonado and Peña: We have many years of experience working in tribology. Demófilo Maldonado has more than 30 years and Laura Peña has more than 10 years. During both our mechanical engineering studies at Universidad de Monterrey, we were fortunate to learn from Dr. Zygmunt Haduch Suski, a Polish professor who inspired our passion for tribology and demonstrated its benefits. Additionally, living in an industrial environment means we encounter tribology applications every day.

TLT: What has been your most rewarding accomplishment throughout your career in the lubricants industry?
Maldonado and Peña: Over time, we’ve gained significant recognition from both local industry and academia in this field. As leaders in tribology in Monterrey, Mexico, we take great pride in our accomplishments. We are also honored to represent Mexico at the International Tribology Conference (ITC).

TLT: What is the No. 1 piece of advice you would give to a person who might be interested in starting a career in the lubricants industry?
Maldonado and Peña: First, conduct a thorough, in-depth study, then apply your knowledge to deliver quantitative and compelling results that clearly demonstrate the impact of your work to the industrial sector.

TLT: Throughout the different segments within your career, which one has been the most interesting, challenging and/or rewarding?
Maldonado and Peña: We believe the greatest challenge is fully understanding the actual industrial tribosystem and accurately replicating it in the laboratory to obtain comparative results that help our industrial partners make informed decisions.

TLT: What are some of the most technical lubrication-based concepts or topics that you have encountered throughout your career?
Maldonado and Peña: We make sure to present our work in a way that our partners in the industry can easily understand. We believe this is the most challenging part, which is ensuring that complex tribology knowledge is communicated pragmatically and effectively. After ten years of experiments, research and industrial applications, we have successfully developed laser surface texturing (LST) patterns that perform exceptionally well in cutting tools in real industrial applications. Another challenge was developing nanolubricants that are effective in industrial machining operations, a goal we have also achieved.

TLT: What is the one thing you wish you would have learned earlier in your career?
Maldonado and Peña: This is precisely our greatest challenge: deeply understanding an industrial tribosystem to replicate it accurately in the laboratory, and then communicating it clearly to our industry partners.

TLT: What can motivate new students to study tribology?
Maldonado and Peña: We believe that this science plays a crucial role in conserving our natural resources by extending the useful life of tools and promoting the efficient use of energy through friction reduction, which in turn lowers the carbon footprint.

You can reach Demófilo Maldonado at demofilo.maldonado@udem.edu and Laura Peña at laura.pena@udem.edu.