Friction at Nanoscale

Abstract

In many technical fields a contact between two surfaces is very important and often the subject of research. The numerous physical phenomena that occur at the contact between two materials indicate the complexity of the processes that take place at the macro, micro or nanoscale. Therefore, friction, lubrication and wear are the subjects that have been attracting attention for many years, especially as part of tribological investigations. The research has shown that these three components are of fundamental importance for surfaces in contact. The aim of this research is to describe friction, and lubrication as a process to control friction, especially at the atomic level. At the atomic and molecular scale there is a possibility to form very thin film with the property to spontaneously assemble themselves into ordered structures. One of the procedures to make these ultrathin organic films of controlled thickness is to prepare self-assembled monolayers. These monolayers are described as a model system to study boundary lubrication.