Study on the Quantitative Evaluation of the Surface Force Using a Scanning Probe Microscope

Abstract

There are two types of friction modifiers (FMs) used as lubricant additives: Reaction film FMs (RF-FMs) and adsorption film FMs (AF-FMs). While RF-FMs provide good performance in severe conditions, AF-FMs excel in mild conditions. This empirical evidence leads us to combine these two FMs to cover broader conditions. However, the effects of their combination are highly complicated due to the interaction between these FMs. If the interaction force of AF-FMs with various materials can be evaluated, it would help us to improve tribological performances of lubricants. Although atomic force microscopy seems suitable for this application, we found some obstacles, such as fluid resistance, electrostatic force, and laser positioning of the cantilever, to achieve proper measurements of the adsorption force. In this study, the adsorption force between the polar group and the surface was directly measured in oil with a 1 µm silica probe modified with CH3 or COOH. This paper proposed how to eliminate errors included in the adsorption force measurement using AFM and a calibration method for obtaining an accurate adsorption force of the polar group, and a test of normality of the measured data was conducted by 400 measurements. As a result, it was shown that approximately 100 tests were needed to obtain an accurate adsorption force in this study.