TRANSITION PROCESS FROM CONTACT TO FLOATING STATE IN A SQUEEZE AIR FILM

This paper presents a series of trials of direct detection of the tran sition process of a squeeze film, front the contacting state into the floating one. The material ir ns initially placed an the surface of a vibrator constituting a squeeze air film. Three electrical trials were performed to certify whether the material could he elevated after the vibrator was excited. When this is done, clearance is expected betwee n the surfaces of the test material and the vibrator. This may be rega rded as the equivalent of a change in electrical resistance from almos t zero to infinity, with a kind of parallel-plate capacitor being form ed. First, detection through DC current was carried out, The experimen tal result, however; reveals that the resistance never does become inf inite, although the equivalent contacting area calculated from this va lue is very small. Second, detection through DC voltage was performed by terminating the clearance with parallel resistance. The experimenta l results verify the appearance of the floating state. Third, the aver age clearance could be detected by regarding it as a parallel-plate ty pe capacitor. Here a Langevin type piezoelectric transducer was used a s the vibrator. Through experimental results results an important fact was observed: the waveform of the voltage applied to the transducer i s closely related to the movement of the clearance in the time domain.