An inertial tribometer for measuring micro-slip dissipation at a solid-solid multicontact interface


Tristan Baumberger, Lionel Bureau, Michel Busson, Eric Falcon & Bernard Perrin

Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée,
École normale supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.

Reference:


Review of Scientific Instruments, 69, 6, 2416-2420 (1998)
 

Abstract:


An apparatus has been built to measure the shear response of a multicontact interface between flat-ended solid bodies, rough at the micron scale. The device makes use of inertia to apply a steady sinusoidal shear force to a slider without direct mechanical drive. Both elastic compliance and damping losses are deduced from the in-phase and out-of-phase components of the submicronic shear displacement. Operating frequencies range between 15 Hz and 1 kHz, while below 100 Hz quasistatic motion of the slider is achieved. Acceleration amplitudes range typically between 0.1 and 7 m s-2, where gross sliding occurs. The resolution of the microslip detection is 1 nm. Apparatus design and operation are described, and the application and limitation of the method to a weakly nonlinear response are discussed and illustrated by experimental results with a polymer glass.
 
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