Manufacturing Tribology in the Nano-Manufacturing Era

In 1966 a report published by UK Department of Education and Science introduced the concept of tribology, which was defined as the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion. Tribology in practice studies friction, wear and lubrication. These processes affect each other with interacting causes and effects: one aspect of tribology is the study of their interactions. One of the fields in which these interactions play a large effect is manufacturing in general and manufacturing processes in particular. From macro manufacturing processes (milling, turning, drilling, boring, etc) to micro (grinding, superfinishing) and nano manufacturing processes (polishing, lapping, CMP) friction, wear and lubrication are the main phenomena governing these processes. This paper will focus on micro and nano abrasive processes and emphasize the application of tribological knowledge on the outcomes of these processes. A study case regarding nano polishing of AlTiC magnetic head will be described together with a special tribo-technology, which will allow the generation of surfaces with Ry of 0.2 nanometers. Also molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of nanoindentation, nanoscratching and friction coefficient at the nano level will be presented.