Three popular solid substrates (surgical tape, silicone rubber and EPDM rubber) were investigated to examine the lubrication properties of water, aqueous protein solution (3.9% solids), skim (0.1% fat) and full fat (3.8% fat) milk samples with reference with their dry contacts. It was observed that the tribological properties of the test fluids were greatly affected by the physical properties of the solid substrates, particularly wettability. Surgical tape surface, having similar wettability and surface roughness to the surface of the human tongue, appeared to be the best substrate for tribological investigations because of its ability to differentiate dairy solutions with different compositions. Silicone rubber and EPDM rubber, on the other hand, showed the same friction for all the dairy fluids and were thereby not suitable for this tribology test. For very hydrophobic surface like EPDM rubber, the tribological result is governed by the entrapment of air pockets between the solid substrate and the test fluid; therefore, it cannot be explained solely by its physical properties measured in static condition. (C). 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.