MRI/RUI: Acquisition of a Nanoindenter for Molecular-Level Studies of Friction at Grinnell College

这项重大研究仪器瑞拨款支持格林内尔学院最先进的纳米压痕设备，以在分子水平上进行摩擦基本机制的研究。具体的设备是Hysitron TriboScope纳米压头，它是一种探测设备，可以同时测量法向力和侧向力、探头位移和接触面积。它可以与格林内尔学院现有的数字仪器控制基地对接。学生研究人员将利用这些设备。格林内尔学院的物理系每年毕业10到20名物理专业的学生，在吸引女性和少数族裔学生进入物理领域方面取得了独特的成功。格林内尔大学有一半的物理学毕业生攻读科学研究生课程。该系将师生研究视为本科物理教育中极其有价值的一部分，对学生和教师都有好处。使用这种纳米压头研究的自组装单分子膜系统有望成为新一代微动力设备的润滑剂。它们也是控制良好的实验和理论模型系统，用于研究摩擦背后的能量耗散机制。

This Major Research Instrumentation RUI grant supports state-of-the-art nanoindentation equipment for Grinnell College to conduct research on the fundamental mechanisms of friction at the molecular level. The specific equipment, a Hysitron TriboScope nanoindenter, is a probe device that simultaneously measures normal and lateral forces, probe displacements, and contact area. It can be interfaced with the Digital Instruments control base already existing at Grinnell College. Student researchers will make use of the equipment. Grinnell College's Physics Department graduates 10 to 20 physics majors per year and has attained unique success in bringing women and minority students into physics. Half of Grinnell's physics graduates pursue graduate study in the sciences. The department views student-faculty research as an extremely valuable part of an undergraduate physics education, benefiting both students and faculty alike. The self-assembled monolayer systems to be studied using this nanoindenter show promise as lubricants for a new generation of microdynamic devices. They are also well-controlled experimental and theoretical model systems for investigating the energy dissipation mechanisms underlying friction.