
A Novel Experimental Technique for the Investigation of Lubrication Against Wear of Microparticles
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Superlubricity is the frictionless state of sliding contacts that has been shown to be working under high pressures in the presence of certain micro-nano particles/colloids [1-4]. However, using particles (“third bodies”) to control friction can end up as a harsh polisher due wear of counter bodies by these particles. Therefore, we have developed a special tribomechanical test set-up by configuring a two-dimensional (2D) indenter, which enables us to investigate single and multi-micro particles testing across scales of MPa to GPa pressure and μm/s to mm/s speeds under dry and liquid lubrication. We will show our testing capacity with two contact pairs of ceramics and metals shown with liquid lubrication mechanism shown at the macroscale [5, 6]. Firstly, diamond-silicon counter bodies under ambient conditions have been studied in terms of degradation by wear particle formation and lubrication by oleic acid for single microcontacts [5]. For the second example, a steel-silicon oxide contact will be shown with a glycerol-assisted polishing and third body particle cleaning that prevents the sliding system from to switch high friction state, and a possible lubricating tribo-film formation by colloidal graphene-like precursor particles (hypericin) exfoliation under high pressure and shear [6]. Overall, we are going to demonstrate a testing method that enables us to study microscale sliding contacts across pressure and speed scales for both dry and liquid conditions. The delicate balance between wear and lubrication by particles in between a contact needs to be studied with diligence in single micro asperity to control the friction and wear across scales, so we believe our novel experimental method will be helpful realizing that.