Acquisition of a Nano-Tribometer and Imaging Tool for Research and Education in Nanostructured Thin Films and Devices

这笔赠款支持购买阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校(UAB)当前和未来纳米结构材料物理学研究和教育活动所需的纳米摩擦仪和成像工具(NTI-TOOL)。该工具由两个主要部分组成，一个是销盘和直线往复式CSM纳米摩擦仪的组合，用于研究材料在包括液体在内的各种载荷和环境中的摩擦磨损；另一个是Fogale干涉显微镜Microsurf-3D，用于在试验前后对复杂形貌的表面进行高分辨率三维成像。纳米摩擦仪和成像工具将在UAB物理系建立新的研究能力，并将补充该部门的材料制造(CVD、PLD、溅射和溶胶-凝胶)和机械性能表征(纳米压痕/AFM设施)基础设施。UAB(物理、生物医学工程和材料科学与工程系)的四个研究小组将从使用建议的工具中受益，这些研究项目侧重于生物医学和微机械(MEMS)应用的纳米结构金属氧化物、纳米晶体金刚石和氮化物陶瓷涂层，以及用于承载生物医学髋关节植入物和机械摩擦副部件的金属复合材料的表面摩擦和微磨损表征。该仪器将在三个UAB教育项目中得到应用：材料科学跨学科研究生项目，UAB NSF/DMR支持的REU-SITE(促进本科生参与实验和计算材料研究的地区倡议，涉及UAB、伯明翰南方学院和桑福德大学，重点是女性和少数族裔)，以及NSF IGERT关于材料和生物技术领域多学科合作的全面提案。这些课程的本科生和研究生将受益于使用这种最先进的仪器来熟悉材料表征的方法，并获得实际的实验室经验。预计该设备将对用于生物医学植入物和MEMS组件的纳米结构和复合材料的物理和技术产生重大影响。通过涉及仪器的研究，加深对这些材料的摩擦和磨损的了解，将有助于生产新的、有用的功能薄膜和复合材料系统组件以及新的承载部件。

This grant supports the acquisition of a Nano-Tribometer and Imaging Tool (NTI-Tool) needed for current and future research and education activities in the physics of nanostructured materials at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). This tool comprises two major parts, a combination of a pin-on-disk and linear reciprocating CSM Nano-Tribometer to study friction and wear of materials in a wide range of loads and environments including liquids, and a Fogale interferometric microscope Microsurf- 3D for high resolution three-dimensional images of surfaces with a complex morphology before and after tests. The Nano-Tribometer and Imaging Tool will establish a new research capability at UAB Department of Physics and will complement the Department's materials fabrication (CVD, PLD, sputtering, and sol-gel) and mechanical properties characterization (Nano-Indentor / AFM facility) infrastructure. There are four research groups in UAB (Physics, Biomedical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering Departments) that will benefit from using the proposed tool in research projects focused on nanostructured metal oxides, nanocrystalline diamond and nitride ceramic coatings for biomedical and micro-mechanical (MEMS) applications, and on characterization of surface friction and micro-wear in metallic composite materials for load-bearing biomedical hip implants and friction pair components of machines. The instrumentation will have application in three UAB educational programs: the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Materials Science, the UAB NSF/DMR-supported REU-Site (Regional Initiative to Promote Undergraduate Participation in Experimental and Computational Materials Research involving UAB, Birmingham Southern College, and Samford University with the focus groups of women and minorities), and pending NSF IGERT full proposal on Multidisciplinary collaboration in materials and biotechnology.. Undergraduate and graduate students in these programs will benefit from using this state-of-art instrumentation to become acquainted with the methods of materials characterization, and to obtain hands-on laboratory experience. It is expected that this equipment will have a significant impact on physics and technology of nanostructured and composite materials for biomedical implants and components of MEMS. The enhanced understanding of friction and wear of these materials generated by research involving the instrumentation will aid in the production of new, useful assemblies of functional thin film and composite materials systems and new load-bearing components.