The Nano Tribometer

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.