MONOGRAPH Published: 01 January 2008
MONO10086M

Chapter 2: Measuring Techniques

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THE DEVELOPMENT OFNEWTECHNIQUES TO MEAsure surface topography, adhesion, friction, wear, lubricant film thickness, and mechanical properties on a micro- and nanometre scale has led to a new field referred to as micro/nanotribology, which is concerned with experimental and theoretical investigation of processes occurring from micro scales down to atomic or molecular scales. Such studies are becoming ever more important as moving parts and mating surfaces continue to be smaller. Micro/nanotribological studies are crucial to develop a fundamental understanding of interfacial phenomena occurring at such small scales and are boosted by the various industrial requirements. The first apparatus for nanotribology research is the Surface Force Apparatus (SFA) invented by Tabor and Winterton [1] in 1969, which is used to study the static and dynamic performance of lubricant film between two molecule-smooth interactions. The invention of the Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) in 1981 by Binning and Rohrer [2] at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory suddenly revolutionized the field of surface science and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1986. This was the first instrument capable of directly obtaining three-dimensional images of a solid surface with atomic resolution and paved the way for a whole new family of Scanning Probe Microscopies (SPM), e.g., Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Friction Force Microscopy (FFM), and others. The AFM and FFM are widely used in nanotribological and nanomechanics studies for measuring surface topography and roughness, friction, adhesion, elasticity, scratch resistance, and for nanolithography and nanomachine.

Author Information

Guo, Dan
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Luo, Jiangbin
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Hu, Yuanzhong
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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Developed by Committee: D02
Pages: 7–36
DOI: 10.1520/MONO10086M
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-6740-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-7006-3