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Friction of the Human Finger Pad: Influence of Moisture, Occlusion and Velocity

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Abstract

The current paper describes an experimental study of the friction of the human finger pad. The data highlight the role of sweat secretion and contact occlusion in producing wide-ranging values for the coefficient of friction that are particularly sensitive to the tribological configuration, sliding velocity, surface roughness and porosity of the counterbody. In particular, the large coefficients of friction typically observed on dry smooth surfaces are associated with a relatively damp interface, and can be considerably reduced by either decreasing or increasing the interfacial moisture content or by surface roughening. It is concluded that the very large range in the values of the coefficient of friction reported in the literature mainly result from differences in occlusion time associated with different tribological configurations, as well as from variations in surface roughness and finger pad sweat rates.

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Acknowledgments

This research was undertaken within the FP6-NMP NANOBIOTACT project (contract no. 033287) and the FP7-NMP NANOBIOTOUCH project (contract no. 228844). The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by the EC.

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  1. Unilever R&D Port Sunlight, Quarry Road East, Bebington, Wirral, CH63 3JW, UK

    Subrahmanyam M. Pasumarty, Simon A. Johnson & Simon A. Watson

  2. School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

    Michael J. Adams

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  1. Subrahmanyam M. Pasumarty
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Pasumarty, S.M., Johnson, S.A., Watson, S.A. et al. Friction of the Human Finger Pad: Influence of Moisture, Occlusion and Velocity. Tribol Lett 44, 117 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-011-9828-0

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