Observing Interfacial Sliding Processes in Solid–Solid Contacts

Abstract

AbstractDirectly seeing into a moving contact is a powerful approach to understanding how solid lubricants develop low-friction, long-lived interfaces. In this article, we present optical microscopy and spectroscopy approaches that can be integrated with friction monitoring instrumentation to provide real-time, in situ evaluation of solid lubrication phenomena. Importantly, these tools allow direct correlation of common tribological events (such as variations in friction and wear) with the responsible sliding-induced mechanical and chemical phenomena. We demonstrate the utility of in situ approaches with applications to a variety of thin-film solid lubricants.