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Kinetics of capillary condensation in nanoscopic sliding friction
Elisa Riedo1, Francis Lévy, Harald Brune
1Institut de Physique des Nanostructures, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abstract:
The velocity and humidity dependence of nanoscopic sliding friction has been studied on CrN and diamondlike carbon surfaces with an atomic force microscope. The surface wettability is found to be decisive. Partially hydrophilic surfaces show a logarithmic decrease of friction with increasing velocity, the slope of which varies drastically with humidity, whereas on partially hydrophobic surfaces we confirm the formerly reported logarithmic increase. A model for the thermally activated nucleation of water bridges between tip and sample asperities fully reproduces the experimental data.
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