The Correlation of the Characteristics of Rough Surfaces with Their Friction Coefficients

Abstract

Although a number of models have been suggested for relating the coefficient of friction of a surface with its profile characteristics, no firm experimental evidence to support a specific theory has been reported. In this work, the methods commonly used to calculate the characteristics of slope and curvature of a surface are investigated. The limitations of these methods are discussed and a new method for calculating the slopes and curvatures of a surface is recommended and shown to provide the most unbiased estimate for data limited by probe size. Finally, the results from preliminary tests show that the slope characteristics calculated using this technique are related to the friction coefficients of a surface as suggested by Challen et al. (1).