Estimation of Surface Forces in Micro Rough Surface Contacts

In a micro-scale contact, surface forces such as capillary force and van der Waals Interaction significantly Influence the contact between asperities of rough surfaces. Little is, however, known about the variation of these surface forces as a function of chemical property of the surface (hydrophilicity), relative humidity and deformation of asperities In the real area of contact. A better understanding of these surface forces is of great necessity in order to find an optimal solution for reducing friction and adhesion of micro surfaces. We proposed an effective method to analyze capillary and van der Waals forces In nano-scale contact. In this method, Winklerian foundation model was employed to analyze the contact of rough surfaces that were obtained from atomic force microscopy (AFM) height Images. Self-mated contact of diamond-like-carbon (DLC) coatings was analyzed, as an example, by the proposed model. It was shown that the capillary force was significantly influenced by relative humidify and wet angle of the DLC surface. The deformation of asperities to a critical magnitude by external loading led to a considerable increase of both capillary and van der Waals forces.