Electrical charges and tribology of insulating materials

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electrical charges generated during contact and friction in insulating materials influence their tribological behavior, highlighting the importance of trapped charges in energy interactions and proposing methods for quantitative evaluation.

Contribution

It demonstrates the significant role of trapped electrical charges in the frictional energy interactions of dielectric materials and introduces combined measurement techniques for their analysis.

Findings

Trapped charges markedly affect interaction energy during friction.

Surface forces measurements can quantify charge contributions.

Electrical charges influence tribological behavior of insulators.

Abstract

Electrical charges generation occurring during contact and friction of insulating materials has been identified for a long time. However the contribution of these electrical charges to the friction behaviour is usually neglected in the energetical balances. Based on published results and on our own experimental results on the ability of the dielectric materials to trap charges, we show in this study that the interaction energy during friction depends markedly on these trapped charges. Eventually, we propose the complementary use of the "mirror " method and of surface forces measurements to obtain a quantitative evaluation of this contribution. dielectric behaviour / friction / triboelectrification / interfacial interactions / surface free energy / space charge / surface forces