• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.9-13
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• 2007

Despite numerous researches on atomic-scale friction have been carried out for understanding the origin of friction, lots of questions about sliding friction still remain. It is known that friction at atomic-scale always shows unique phenomena called 'stick-slips' which reflect atomic lattice of a scanned surface. In this work, experimental study on the effects of system stiffnesses and load on the atomic-scale stick-slip friction of graphite was performed by using an Atomic Force Microscope and various cantilevers/tips. The objective of this research is to figure out the dependency of atomic-scale friction on the nanomechanical properties in sliding contact such as load, stiffness and contact materials systematically. From this work, the experimental observation of transitions in atomic-scale friction from smooth sliding to multiple stick-slips in air was first made, according to the lateral cantilever stiffness and applied normal load. The superlubricity of graphite could be verified from friction vs. load experiments. Based on the results, the relationship between the stickslip behaviors and contact stiffness was carefully discussed in this work. The results or this work indicate that the atomic-scale stick-slip behaviors can be controlled by adjusting the system stiffnesses and contact materials.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.81-85
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• 2009

Interests in micro/nano-particles have been greatly increasing due to their wide applications in various fields such as environmental and medical sciences as well as engineering. In order to obtain a fundamental understanding of the tribological characteristics at particle-surface contact interface, frictional behaviors according to load/pressure and materials were obtained by using atomic force microscope(AFM) cantilevers with different stiffnesses and tips. Lateral contact stiffnesses were observed in various tip-surface contact situations. Experimental results show that stick-slip friction behavior occurs even when the colloidal probes with a particle of a few micrometers in diameter, which have a relatively large contact area and lack a well-shaped apex, were used. This indicates that atomic stick-slip friction may be a more common phenomenon than it is currently thought to be. Also, experimental results were investigated by considering the competition between the stiffness of the interatomic potential across the interface and the elastic stiffnesses of the contacting materials and the force sensor itself.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.295-296
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• 2008