Surface Characterization

Surface of any material has completely different properties than its bulk. Interactions between two surfaces are strongly dominated by the conditions, properties, and micro-geometries of the surfaces. The scale of surface interactions is also affected by the micro-geometries of interacting surfaces. In current tribology research trends, surface characterization has become an important stage, and provides useful informations of surfaces such as mechanical properties, chemical composition, microstructural informations, alloy formation in typical wear test, dominant wear mechanisms, surface topography etc. The following instrumented techniques have made this surface characterization an interesting task in tribology research: Atomic Force Microscopy; Micro and Nano Indenters; Scanning Electron Microscope; Auger Electron Microscope; X-Ray Photo Electron Spectroscopy etc. Within our laboratory, at present, we are working with an AFM and a Micro Indenter for the surface characterization purposes.