Method for lubricating contacting surfaces
| DWPI Title: Providing tribological lubrication to sliding contact surfaces in a closed environment, comprises providing a closed environment containing a first surface with a contacting length and a second surface with a contacting length |
| Abstract: A method is provided for tribological lubrication of sliding contact surfaces, where two surfaces are in contact and in motion relative to each other, operating in a vapor-phase environment containing at least one alcohol compound at a concentration sufficiently high to provide one monolayer of coverage on at least one of the surfaces, where the alcohol compound continuously reacts at the surface to provide lubrication. |
| Use: The method is useful for providing tribological lubrication to sliding contact surfaces in a microelectromechanical system in a closed environment. |
| Advantage: The method is capable of efficiently and economically providing tribological lubrication to sliding contact surfaces in the microelectromechanical system thus reducing friction and improving wear resistance in sliding contacts, improving operation lifetimes of microelectromechanical system and mitigating wear of atomic force microscopy tips during contact scanning. |
| Novelty: The method comprises providing a closed environment containing a first surface with a contacting length of less than 1cm centimeter and a second surface with a contacting length of less than 1 cm. One of the first and second surfaces is present in motion relative to the other surface to provide contact between the surfaces. The closed environment further contains a source of an alcohol compound, where the source is capable of delivery of the alcohol compound in a vapor phase at a critical alcohol concentration (C a ), which has a value sufficiently high to provide a monolayer. |
| Filed: 5/7/2008 |
| Application Number: US2008116243A |
| Tech ID: SD 10564.1 |
| This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention. |
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