Surface wear analytical tools

Wear in a strict sense occurs whenever material is lost from a solid. The mechanism of loss can be abrasion, adhesion, erosion, cavitation, corrosion or fatigue. This loss can occur at the atomic level. At this level analytical tools such as the field ion microscope and the atom probe can be used to study wear loss of polymers. These tools have been used in the authors laboratory for many years to study polymer adhesion and transfer to metal surfaces ... 

A host of analytical tools are available to the tribologist for the study of the wear of polymers and polymer films. Much can be learned about the wear behavior of polymer with visual observation of the wear surfaces with the scanning electron microscope while surface profilometer can assist in quantifying polymer wear. 

The objectives of this paper are twofold, first, to examine the adhesion, friction and wear behavior of the solid polymers PTFE and polyimide with various metals and second, to gain insight into the role of the friction process in the generation of polymer surface films. Analytical surface tools including field ion microscopy and Auger emission spectroscopy were used to examine the atomic nature of polymer-metal surface interactions. 

In Chapter 3, carbon nanotubes and onions are evaluated as potential anti wear and friction-reducing additives. Similarly to Chapter 2, analytical tools including surface analysis are found to be very useful for identifying the mechanism of action of nanotubes and onions as lubricants. Interestingly, the formation of lubricious iron oxides contributes to the tribological performance of these additives. 

---