9708966 Shaw The micro-tribological properties of carbon nanotubes will be investigated. Short lengths od tube will be attached to the tip of an atomic force microscope and used as the slider in contact with surfaces of MoS2, mica and other materials, as well as monolayers of carbon tubes deposited on these surfaces. Testing will be conducted with the nanotubes filled with various lubricants and other liquids. It is expected that the technique will allow determination of the effects on lubrication performance of certain molecular properties of the lubricants, such as diffusivity and relaxation time. The potentially low- friction, nanometer thick boundary lubrication film produced in this way has a number of possible applications in MEMS systems and hard disk drives. ***
