Miniature Polymer Elements

SURFACE ENERGETICS AND TRIBOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF MINIATURE POLYMER ELEMENTS... 

Some research works concerning the tribological properties of the rubbing miniature polymer elements are published but they do not explain the reasons for the observed friction and wear properties. 2 3... 

Polymer radiation chemistry is a key element of the electronics industry, in that polymer materials that undergo radiation induced changes in solubility are used to define the individual elements of integrated circuits. As the demands placed on these materials increases due to increased density, complexity and miniaturization of devices, new materials and chemistry will be required. This necessitates continued efforts to understand fundamental polymer radiation chemical processes, and continued development of new radiation sensitive materials that are applicable to VLSI Technology. 

For thermally sensitive or undoped polymers with low linear absorption at the laser wavelength, the use of femtosecond laser pulses can improve the ablation precision in contrast to long-pulse treatment. Further, the thermal load to the samples is minimized. For these reasons, femtosecond laser pulses were chosen to perforate a polyethylene membrane serving as a diffusion-discriminating element on a miniaturized biosensor for the measurement of glucose concentration [78]. 

The relationships between the surface energetics of polymer miniature elements and lubricants and the tribological properties of the journal steel/polymer micrpbearings are discussed. A method for the determination of the relative magnitudes of surface free energies of the real surfaces of polymer miniature bushes is described. This method is based on the analysis of the spreading dynamics of a drop of a lubricant on the bearing polymer surface. 

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