Fingerpad Contact Evolution Under Electrovibration

TL;DR

This study investigates how electrovibration affects finger contact mechanics on touchscreens, revealing that electrovibration influences friction and contact area only during full slip, with skin stiffening playing a key role.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental analysis of contact evolution under electrovibration on touchscreens, highlighting the mechanics during slip conditions.

Findings

Electrovibration increases friction during full slip.

Apparent contact area decreases during full slip with electrovibration.

Skin stiffening reduces apparent contact area during slip.

Abstract

Displaying tactile feedback through a touchscreen via electrovibration has many potential applications in mobile devices, consumer electronics, home appliances, and automotive industry though our knowledge and understanding on the underlying contact mechanics is very limited. An experimental study was conducted to investigate the contact evolution between the human finger and a touchscreen under electrovibration using a robotic set-up and an imaging system. The results show that the effect of electrovibration is only present during full slip but not before slip. Hence, coefficient of friction increases under electrovibration as expected during full slip, but the apparent contact area is significantly smaller during full slip when compared to that of no electrovibration condition. It is suggested that the main cause of the increase in friction during full slip is due to an increase in real contact area and the reduction in apparent area is due to stiffening of the finger skin in tangential direction.