K. C. Eapen, S. A. Smallwood, J. Zabinski
Dec 4, 2006
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Influential Citations
13
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Journal
Surface & Coatings Technology
Abstract
Abstract The concept of replenishing lubrication provided by a pair of bound/mobile hydrocarbon-based lubricants has been extended to silicon-based MEMS in vacuum (∼ 1.3 × 10 − 4 Pa). Several bound/mobile pairs of lubricants were evaluated to study the effects of bound phase end-group and mobile phase chemical functionality towards performance. The bound species studied were derived from 1-decanol and 1,7-heptanediol. Mobile phases investigated were, a pentaerythritol ester, a multiply alkylated cyclopentane, Pennzane®, and a polysilane developed for spacecraft application. Lubricant performance was compared with data generated in dry air earlier, and also with fresh Fomblin Zdol® under identical conditions of vacuum. The best performance from among those studied was provided by a mixture of bound 1,7-heptanediol and the pentaerythritol ester. An explanation for its superior performance is advanced based on intermolecular hydrogen bonding.