Engineering Research Equipment Grant: Auger Electron Spect-rometer and Upgrade of a Fourier Transform Infrated Spectro-photometer

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The development of a low heat rejection diesel or combination diesel and gas turbine engine requires lubricants and machine surfaces capable of operation at temperatures of 500 degrees C and above. If solid lubricants are used, it is dificult to replenish them. One method of replacement is the generation of lubricant carbon by catalytic dissociation or reduction of combustion gases on the wear surfaces themselves. A study of such a process has been underway using an ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) system to obtain well-defined surfaces and conditions. This system was designed to allow in-place analysis of friction, wear, surface probile (by optical profilometry), environmental and desorbed gases (by mass spectrometry), and surface adsorbates (by emission infrared Fourier spectroscopy FTIR, through windows). For the exact definition of the wear surface, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) with a dedicated instrument is essential. For surface kinetic measurements the FTIR needs upgrading. When ethylene was used as a test gas the friction coefficient for nickel-containing alloys or ceramics provided with a transfer film of nickel-containing alloy was reproducibly reduced by factors of six or more.