抄録
The wear durability of perfluoropolyether (PFPE) lubricant as thin as a monolayer has been studied. The wear durability of the bonded and mobile layers that are formed on Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) surface is investigated experimentally. To accelerate the test, the wear durability test is performed using a ball on disk tester for the applied load of 100-1000mN and tangential velocity of 0.5m/s. Measuring the lubricant film thickness using an ellipsometric device and observing the surface of a glass ball indenter and disk using an optical microscope after the wear test, we have estimated that the wear process of the lubricant film consists of the wear of the mobile layer and the bonded layer sequentially. The wear volume of the lubricant film increases with the increase in the wear time. It has been found that the wear durability of the ultra thin lubricant film as thin as a monolayer depends on the combination of both the mobile and the bonded layers. Particularly, the wear durability has bees very high with a denser bonded monolayer.
