Speed and Atmosphere Influences on Nanotribological Properties of NbSe2

Philippe Bilas (1) , Laurence Romana (1, 2) , Francois Bade (3) , Karl Delbe (1) , Jean-Louis Mansot (1)

1 GTSI - Groupe de Technologie des Surfaces et Interfaces [URp2_2]
2 Université des Antilles (Pôle Guadeloupe)
3 LPAT - Laboratoire de Physique de l'Atmosphère Tropicale

Nanotribological properties of NbSe2 are studied using an atomic friction force microscope. The friction force is measured as a function of normal load and scan speeds ranging from 10 nm s−1 to 40 μm s−1 under two atmospheres (air and argon). At low speed, no effect of atmosphere is noticed and a linear relationship between the friction and normal forces is observed leading to a friction coefficient close to 0.02 for both atmospheres. At high speed, the tip/surface contact obeys the JKR theory and the tribological properties are atmosphere dependent: the shear stress measured in air environment is three times lower than the one measured under argon atmosphere. A special attention is paid to interpret these results through numerical data obtained from a simple athermal model based on Tomlinson approach.

Mots clés: Nanotribology; AFM; Friction mechanisms; NbSe2

Domaines: Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]

Philippe Bilas, Laurence Romana, Francois Bade, Karl Delbe, Jean-Louis Mansot. Speed and Atmosphere Influences on Nanotribological Properties of NbSe2. Tribology Letters, 2009, vol. 34, pp. 41-48. ⟨10.1007/s11249-008-9400-8⟩. ⟨hal-00780496⟩