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The role of surfaces and interfaces in wear, adhesion and breakdown phenomena
Author(s) -
Le Gressus C.,
Maire Ph.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.740110502
Subject(s) - wetting , cohesion (chemistry) , materials science , dielectric , dissipation , solid surface , adhesion , mechanics , condensed matter physics , chemical physics , thermodynamics , chemistry , composite material , physics , optoelectronics , organic chemistry
Phenomena of wear, adhesion, dielectric breakdown, etc. are dealt with by specialists in different fields (solid state physics, thermodynamics, mechanics) and it is hard to establish links between the various approaches. We have tried to achieve this by the use of surface methods, taking as the basis the insulating nature of technological surfaces and attempting to relate their technical properties (wear, adhesion, wetting, etc) to their specific physical properties (surface tension, defects, conductivity). Although in principle the physical properties investigated are accessible through chemical analysis, an explanation for the phenomena observed in practice was obtained by study of the elementary phenomena occurring on model surfaces (adsorption, segregation, charges, etc.). The points of interest were the origin of the coupling which exists between surfaces properties and volume properties, that of fracto‐emission phenomena and that of electrostatic phenomena observed during wear, adhesive stripping, etc. It is important to clarify these points, on which various theories of adherence and wear are based. Their explanation will be shown to lie in the electronic and vibrational structures of imperfect insulators and the polarization of insulators subjected to mechanical, thermal and electrical stresses. They give information about the different modes of energy dissipation in the solid and the influence of defects on the cohesion energy. The study of these different factors thus links up directly with the thermodynamic and chemical approach to the properties of insulators, which only adds to the importance of the current fall‐out from surface sciences.