Keywords

Boundary Lubrication, Nanotribology, Test Methods, Surfaces, TEM, In Situ TEM Tribologic Experiment

In Situ Nano-Tribology Experiments in TEM - Investigations of the Behavior of Single Nanoparticles

The present work is concerned with the study of the behaviour of individual aggregates of fluorinated carbon nanoparticles when submitted to compressive and shear stresses. In situ TEM experiments were carried out using a high resolution transmission electron microscope (JEOL JEM-2200FS), operated at 200 kV using a Nanofactory Instruments AFM holder. The nanoparticles studied are fluorinated graphitized carbon blacks prepared at the Institut de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand (France). They are constituted of a graphitized core surrounded by a fluorinated shell (10 nm thickness) and had sizes ranging from several nanometers to several micrometers. They present a fluor to carbon atomic ratio of 0.16. The aggregates showed remarkable stability during the in situ nano-tribology experiments. The particles remained strongly bonded to each others. Individual aggregates behave elastically when relatively large compressive stresses were applied.

Authors and Company/Institution

Jean-Louis Mansot and Audrey Molza, Universite des Antilles et de la Guyane,Guadeloupe, France
Maxime J-F Guinel, Departments of Chemistry and Physics, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, United States Minor Outlying Islands