PI - Scott Perry, University of Houston Project Summary
Symposium Title "Friction, Lubrication, and Adhesion in Micro- and Nano-Scale Devices"
The purpose of this symposium is to bring together two groups of researchers-those studying the basic science of tribology on the small scale and those making practical small devices where such tribological phenomena are important-in a forum where they can exchange information and results. This exchange should have a broad impact on the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology by fostering stronger ties between researchers working in different subcommunities of these fields. This proposal requests funds for the support of scientists and engineers traveling to this symposium.
In recent years, nanoscience and nanotechnology have dominated much of the cutting edge activities of the scientific and engineering research communities. Within nanoscience, the subfield of nanotribology has been an ongoing activity over the last few decades. Numerous researchers have been elucidating how the tribological phenomena of friction, lubrication, wear and adhesion occur at the atomic and molecular level. This focus on understanding tribological phenomena at the small scale has revitalized the field of tribology, converting it from a black art into a cutting edge scientific field. This has led to a tremendous increase in the predictive power tribology science, particularly for phenomena on the submicron scale. Better collaborations are needed, however, between the chemists, physicists, and material scientists doing fundamental research and technologists trying to capitalize on these results.
In nanotechnology, researchers try to build devices where one or more components of have dimensions on the nanometer scale. For devices where components move relative to each other, such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), nanotribological phenomena often govern how well they work. Much could be gained if the nanotechnologists who make small devices learnt what the nanotribologists already know. Further nanotribologists could better focus their research efforts if they understood better the practical tribological problems encountered by nanotechnologists.
