Electrical charges and tribology of insulating materials.

Christelle Guerret-Piecourt (1) , Sandrine Bec (2) , Daniel Treheux (1)

1 IFoS - Laboratoire d'Ingénierie et Fonctionnalisation des Surfaces
2 LTDS - Laboratoire de Tribologie et Dynamique des Systèmes

Electrical charges generation occurring during contact and friction of insulating materials has been identified for a long time. However the contribution of these electrical charges to the friction behaviour is usually neglected in the energetical balances. Based on published results and on our own experimental results on the ability of the dielectric materials to trap charges, we show in this study that the interaction energy during friction depends markedly on these trapped charges. Eventually, we propose the complementary use of the "mirror " method and of surface forces measurements to obtain a quantitative evaluation of this contribution. dielectric behaviour / friction / triboelectrification / interfacial interactions / surface free energy / space charge / surface forces

Mots clés: dielectric behavior; friction; triboelectrification; interfacial interaction; space charge; surface forces

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

Christelle Guerret-Piecourt, Sandrine Bec, Daniel Treheux. Electrical charges and tribology of insulating materials.. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. Série IV, Physique, Astronomie, 2001, t2 (Série IV), pp.761-774. ⟨hal-00163672⟩