Electrical charges and tribology of insulating materials

Abstract

Electrical charge generation occurring during contact and friction of insulating materials has long been identified. However the contribution of these electrical charges to the frictional behaviour is usually neglected. Based on published results and on our own experimental work 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 force measurements to obtain a quantitative evaluation of this contribution.