MICROTRIBOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SELF-ASSEMBLED AND LANGMUIR-BLODGETT MONOLAYERS BY ATOMIC AND FRICTION FORCE MICROSCOPY

Organized and dense monolayers were produced by chemical grafting of m olecules and by Langmuir-Blodgett (L-B) deposition. Friction, wear, an d indentation of these films on a microscale have been studied using a tomic force microscopy/friction force microscopy (AFM/FFM). For compar ison, macroscale friction and wear measurements have also been made. M echanisms of friction, wear, and lubrication of chemical grafted and L -B films are discussed. These studies show that coefficient of frictio n, wear resistance, and nanoindentation properties of C-18 double-graf ted films are superior to those of L-B films.