Micro-instrumentation For Tribological Measurement

A new lateral (non-rotary) SCS micro-instrument for direct measurment of static and dynamic friction between two surfaces is presented. Comb drive actuators apply the normal force and the tangential force for relative motion. The frictionally interacting contact surfaces are SCREAM fabricated vertical side-walls which can be coated with materials. For silicon-dioxide coated surfaces of area 10/sup/3 /sop mu/m/sup2/, friction is observed with the Coulomb's static coefficient of friction being 0.5.