UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #755

Overall Research Project Description In mechanical systems, the friction and wear of materials causes large amounts of waste in both energy and cost. Improvements in frictional losses in passenger automobiles in the next 15-20 years could save the world 1 x 10^11 gallons of gasoline per year, reduce CO2 emission by 1000 (million) tons per year and would result in an energy reduction of 13,472,000 TJ/year. Wear of materials could easily have as much of a functional and economic impact as friction. Replacement of worn components is costly due to component costs, replacement labor costs, losses from equipment downtime and the environmental impacts of discarding components. Thin coatings and solid lubricants are of interest in the field of tribology (the study of contacting materials in relative motion) and are being used in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), cutting tools, and aerospace applications to improve the performance and life-time of the components. They are very thin (~100 nm) and sometimes they show low resistivity and “self-lubrication”, requiring no added oil or grease for low friction performance. The processing and fabrication parameters influence the structure and properties of the coatings. However, the processing-structure-properties relationship is not folly mapped out for these coatings. In this research project, students will have exposure to mechanical testing, sample handling, and the development of custom instrumentation for testing the performance of our desired samples. Students will also have exposure to other projects and people from different fields, enhancing their scientific perspective and approach to tackle research problems.