Tribological investigation of human skin friction with polytetrafluoroethylene PTFE under different boundary conditions

Abstract This paper is an experimental investigation on the interaction between the human finger and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) with regards to friction. Three male Asian volunteers aged 24, 52 and 66 were asked to participate. The experimental setup consisted on a circle tipped probe being placed in contact with the ring finger of the volunteers and dragged over the surface of the finger with an applied load of (1-12) N. The friction phenomenon was evaluated in both dry and wet conditions using the CETR UMT-2 tribometer from the Department of Machine Elements and Tribology at University Politehnica of Bucharest. Contact adhesion was also studied, and it was found out that younger skin exhibits a greater adhesion component.