Leaf Coppin zyxw 137 A zyxw New Tool for Industrial Tribology Filling the Gap between Macro- zy and Nano- tribology zyx S. Achanta Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium D. Drees Falex Tribology NV, Leuven, Belgium zyx 1.2 Celis Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium 0. Mollenhauer Tetra GmbH, Ilmenau, Germany F. Spiller IMMS, Ilmenau, Germany Abstract The aim of this paper is to illustrate the similarities and variations betzueen friction and wear data acquired with tzuo diferent types of laboratory tribological test equipment that not only operate zyxwvut in the gap between macro- and nano-testing, but also provide test parameters that allow an overlap across the whole scalefrom macro- to nanoscalefriction and wear tests. Comparative zuear tests zuere conducted under identical test conditions in the overlap region between macro- and micro-regions using an existing piece of labo- ratory fretting test equipment and a nouel one. The experimental test data obtained with these tu70 experimental set-ups are discussed. Keywords macro-tribology, nano-tribology, friction, wear, comparatiue wear testing, nanoscale testing INTRODUCTION Friction and wear at different length scales has become a subject of increasing interest. Magnetic storage devices and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are two examples of micro-sized and nano-sized tribological tot zy ‘i., I> I investigation techniques that are essential for achieving desired fun I ioii,~l properties and also for studying energy dissipation and material degradation phenomena at the micro- and nanoscale. In the case of MEMS, the friction of Tribotest journal 22-2, December 2004. (11) 237 lSSN 2354-4063 $35.00 (2637/1204)