The world uses tens of millions of tons of lubricant every year from the smallest part of a micro-precision instrument to the expansion rollers on the largest bridges. Most are oil based, though others use powders, and even metals, and it's been that way for decades. That's now changing as the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Freiburg, Nematel GmbH, and Dr. Tillwich GmbH have developed the first new class of lubricants in decades, but instead of oil, it's based on liquid crystals. According to Fraunhofer, this is the first fundamentally new lubricant in twenty years..