Development Status of the 'Adhesion of Metals' Experiment and of the Uhv Chamber Facility

摘要

The goal of the experiment 'Adhesion of Metals' is the characterization of surface forces and interface energies at the contact between real Metal surfaces, and the impulse probing of transient phenomena associated to the adhesion mechanism. In the experiment, a small metallic sphere impacts against a metal target, and restitution coefficients, contact times and time behavior of contact forces are measured as a function of incoming sphere velocity. Computer simulation indicates that, in microgravity environment and under ultrahigh vacuum, such data can give useful information on the characteristics of the surface forces and interface energies involved in the adhesion mechanisms between colliding bodies. The development status is reported of the physical model developed to design the experiment and to interpret its results, and of the facility 'UHV Chamber', expecially designed and constructed to perform the experiment on board the first Spacelab mission.