Development of a Vibration-Assisted Micro/Nano Scratch Tester for Evaluating the Scratch Behaviors of Materials Under Vibration Environment

Micro/nano scratch testing is an effective technique for characterizing the mechanical properties and wear resistance of materials. In practical applications, most of the materials in equipment serve in a vibration environment. However, the scratching characteristics of materials under vibration environment have not been well investigated due to the lack of suitable testing instruments. To address this issue, in this article, we develop a vibration-assisted micro/nano scratch tester. Its working principle is introduced, followed by designing and analyzing the vibration platform. Then, the prototype is fabricated and a control system is established. After that, the key performance parameters of the tester are characterized. The results showed that the load noise is lower than 0.1 mN, and the vibration platform can generate a unidirectional vibration with the amplitude range of 0.2–11 μm and frequency range of 1–2000 Hz. To verify the feasibility of the proposed scratch tester, vibration-assisted scratch tests are performed on AL1050. It is shown that vibration during scratch testing leads to an increase in the residual scratch width and a decrease in the coefficient of friction and scratch hardness. These findings verify the effectiveness of the vibration-assisted micro/nano scratch tester and highlight the significance of considering vibration effects on the characterization of materials.