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In Nano tribometry, a flat, a pin or a sphere is loaded onto the test
sample with a precisely known force. The pin is mounted on a stiff lever,
designed as a frictionless force transducer. The friction coefficient
is determined during the test by measuring the deflection of the elastic
arm. Wear coefficients for the pin and disk materials are calculated from
the volume of material lost during the test. This simple method facilitates
the study of friction and wear behaviors of almost every solid state material
combination with or without lubricant. Furthermore, the control of the
test parameters such as speed, fre-quency, contact pressure, time and
the environmental parameters (temperature, humidity and lubricant) allows
to closely reproduce the real life conditions of a practical wear situation.
The CSM Nano Tribometer is a unique instrument because of its low load
range down to 50µN. It can perform both the linear reciprocating and rotating
mode. One important feature of all the CSM Tribometers is that the experiment
stops automatically when the coefficient of friction reaches a threshold
value or when a specified number of turns is reached. Also, the Tribometer
is supplied with an enclosure so that controlled atmosphere of varying
humidity or composition can be used. Specialized versions of the Tribometer
have been developed for high & low temperature operations, reciprocating
motion and high vacuum testing. The Nano Tribometer is equipped with a
depth measuring sensor for real-time display of depth information which
is important in studying the time dependent wear properties. Furthermore,
an electrical conductivity option can enable testing of electrical insulation
of coatings.
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