This grant supports the acquisition of a Nano-Tribometer and Imaging Tool (NTI-Tool) needed for current and future research and education activities in the physics of nanostructured materials at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). This tool comprises two major parts, a combination of a pin-on-disk and linear reciprocating CSM Nano-Tribometer to study friction and wear of materials in a wide range of loads and environments including liquids, and a Fogale interferometric microscope Microsurf- 3D for high resolution three-dimensional images of surfaces with a complex morphology before and after tests. The Nano-Tribometer and Imaging Tool will establish a new research capability at UAB Department of Physics and will complement the Department's materials fabrication (CVD, PLD, sputtering, and sol-gel) and mechanical properties characterization (Nano-Indentor / AFM facility) infrastructure. There are four research groups in UAB (Physics, Biomedical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering Departments) that will benefit from using the proposed tool in research projects focused on nanostructured metal oxides, nanocrystalline diamond and nitride ceramic coatings for biomedical and micro-mechanical (MEMS) applications, and on characterization of surface friction and micro-wear in metallic composite materials for load-bearing biomedical hip implants and friction pair components of machines.
The instrumentation will have application in three UAB educational programs: the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Materials Science, the UAB NSF/DMR-supported REU-Site (Regional Initiative to Promote Undergraduate Participation in Experimental and Computational Materials Research involving UAB, Birmingham Southern College, and Samford University with the focus groups of women and minorities), and pending NSF IGERT full proposal on Multidisciplinary collaboration in materials and biotechnology.. Undergraduate and graduate students in these programs will benefit from using this state-of-art instrumentation to become acquainted with the methods of materials characterization, and to obtain hands-on laboratory experience. It is expected that this equipment will have a significant impact on physics and technology of nanostructured and composite materials for biomedical implants and components of MEMS. The enhanced understanding of friction and wear of these materials generated by research involving the instrumentation will aid in the production of new, useful assemblies of functional thin film and composite materials systems and new load-bearing components.
