Atomic force microscope studies of lubricant films on solid surfaces

The tribological properties of Langmuir-Blodgett films of cadmium arachidate deposited on silicon wafers have been studied as a model boundary lubricant. An Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) was used to measure the effect of a single molecular layer on the frictional force. Wear experiments on multilayers of cadmium arachidate indicate that the upper layers are easily worn away with the AFM tip, but the layer bonded to the SiOx-Si(111) substrate is not removed under the loads (< 2 x 10-7N) used in our experiments. © 1990.