This award will be used to upgrade engineering research equipment being used in an on-going research project. The project is a study of high temperature lubrication of sliding systems by carbon generated in situ from catalytic dissociation of organic gases. The equipment upgrades consist of a far infrared accessory and a fast kinetic accessory to a Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer. These accessories will allow the equipment to follow fast reactions and to distinguish hydrogen-metal bonds at the metal surface from other bonds in the various molecules present on and near the surface. This will make it possible to characterize the reactions and the surfaces in detail.
