Atomic-Scale Wear in UHV: Connection Between AFM Induced-Abrasion and Debris Recrystallization

作者：D'Acunto Mario^*

来源：Tribology Letters, 2012, 45(1): 161-175.

DOI：10.1007/s11249-011-9879-2

• Abrasive wear
• AFM
• Aluminium
• Contact mechanics
• Wear mechanisms

Recent Ultrahigh Vacuum (UHV) scratching Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) experiments showed the formation of regular patterns composed by small atomic clusters or mounds located around the surfaces being scanned. The formation of such structures has been theoretically reproduced and explained as, mainly produced by the flux of adatoms generated by the AFM tip stripping off adatoms during the continuous passage of the probe tip on the analysed surface. The homoepitaxy growth process on Aluminium was used for the identification of the direct connection between the adatoms flux due to wear mechanisms and the self-assembled growth processes. Such theoretical results were based on the general assumption that surface diffusion is the dominant transport mechanism of mass, and a nonequilibrium thermodynamics framework for the self-organized growth process has been developed showing evidence of the direct connection between the growth structures due to atomic debris formation and the flux of the atomic debris due to the activated wear mechanisms. In this article, we revisit the preview model giving new contributions to it and, in turn, we suggest that the improved model as proposed in this article can be supported with a new class of experiments for the quantification of the wear rates occurring for AFM probe tips in UHV conditions. In turn, a general review on activated wear mechanisms is briefly discussed.

• 出版日期2012-1