Content area
Full Text
Structuring surfaces on a mesoscopic scale leads to precise friction control.
Over the last decade, micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS) have become increasingly commonplace in a wide variety of devices, with applications ranging from automobile airbag accelerometers to a host of consumer electronic products.
As we've previously discussed in TLT,1 tribological problems in such devices are an issue, and controlling friction and wear remains a challenge. While our previous column on this subject dealt largely with wear, a recent paper2 published in Triboloqy Letters deals with the control of friction on length and load scales relevant to microdevices.
At the macroscopic scale, many researchers have explored the effects of surface structure on lubrication. Structures of the appropriate dimensions have been shown to improve hydrodynamic lubrication while also serving as a sink for wear particles, thus rendering them less likely to cause wear by plowing. Structuring at the micro- and nanoscales has been explored far less, and tribological measurements involving contact sizes and loads comparable to those present in MEMS and NEMS devices (at...