Vapor-Phase Lubricants: Nanometer-Scale Mechanisms and Applications to Sub-Micron and Rotating Machinery

摘要

Vapor-phase lubricants: Nanometer-scale mechanisms and applications to sub-micron and rotating machinery was the beginning segment of a new program supported by AFOSR involving a set of experiments seeking to explore the molecular-scale properties of vapor-phase lubricants in well-defined contact geometries. During the 10.5 month grant period, two ultra-high vacuum chambers were customized for the specific proposed studies, and all personnel involved were trained in Ultra-High Vacuum (UHV) and quartz microbalance techniques. The construction and training period is now complete, and a series of measurements have been performed. These include measurements of the uptake rate of the lubricant TBPP on Fe as a function of temperature, and a series of measurements of the nanomechanical properties of a number of potential lubricants for Micro- Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) applications by means of a combined quartz microbalance/scanning tunneling microscopy technique.