TRIBOMECHADYNAMICS LAB

Unique Capabilities. To study the large range of length scales in the Tribomechadynamics Lab, several unique experimental capabilities have been developed:

• Meso-scale Indentation Rig: Our newest addition is an instrumented indentation rig that is capable of indenting a sample with sub-micron resolution of displacement and sub-N resolution in force up to maximum levels of 0.1 mm and 3 kN.
• Strength of Adhesion Fatigue Test Rig: unlike many tests for assessing the bond strength of coatings, this test rig allows an in situ measurement of coating bond strength and quantification of its fatigue properties.
• Impact Test Rigs: we have both an unpowered drop tower and an electromagnetic canon that allows us to conduct impact dynamic experiments up to ~100 m/s. For higher energy impacts, we have available a gas gun that ranges from 1 km/s to 10 km/s, on loan from NASA.
• High speed videography: one of our primary data acquisition methods is digital image correlation and high speed image acquisition. We have multiple high speed cameras in our lab, that have framerates spanning up to 600,000 fps.
• Optical profilometer: our wide area 3d measurement system is able to resolve 1 um x 1 um x 1 um features across large surfaces. With our in-house stitching and analysis software, we can track changes over time for entire interfaces (~10 in^2).
• Scanning laser profilometer: our two laser profilometers are able to resolve surface features down to ~10 nm. What sets this capability apart from a traditional tribology lab, though, is our treatment of large surfaces. We can measure arbitrarily large surfaces (our typical measurements are 5″ by 1″, which is far below the limit of our device) and perform statistical analyses of the surface to differentiate macroscale features (e.g. curvature and other deviations from flatness), mesoscale features (e.g. machining marks), and microscale features (e.g. roughness and distributions of asperities).
• Electronic pressure film: this unique capabilities allows an unprecedented real time measurement of contact pressure in a jointed interface during dynamic excitation. This allows us to directly validate new models of interface mechanics and to propose new hypotheses for how loads are borne in assemblies.
• Single point laser microscope: unlike laser Doppler vibrometers, this tool enables us to measure features on the scale of nm, with ranges of approximately 1″. This allows for either very detailed measurements of surface roughness or non-contact measurements of vibration amplitudes.

Additional capabilities include all of those that may be found in a traditional structural dynamics lab or mechanics lab: shakers, impact hammers, accelerometers, laser Doppler vibrometers, strain gages, axial and compression (MTS) machines, etc.