A Direct Experimental Link between Atomic-scale and Macroscale Friction

N.T. Garabedian and D.L. Burris

While it is well-established that fundamental atomic-scale interactions govern the friction coefficients and wear rates observed macroscopically, atomic scale and macroscale friction coefficient measurements are quantitatively disconnected for reasons that remain unclear. Macroscale friction can be insensitive to external factors like environment and material, while nanoscale friction coefficients can vary from extremely large to extremely small. We propose to begin bridging this knowledge gap by first bridging the length scale gap between nano and macroscale tribometry. In this presentation, we will describe how we modified these methods to enable friction coefficient measurements of a model system involving single crystal MoS2 under exactly the same conditions using instruments traditionally used to probe nanoscale and macrioscale friction. Eliminating this experimental ‘dead-zone’ between nanoscale and macroscale measurements will provide the means to study when ‘nanoscale’ friction becomes ‘macroscale’ friction and why.