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On the wear mechanism of thin nickel film during AFM-based scratching process using molecular dynamics

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Abstract

We report a study on monocrystalline nickel thin films using the atomic force microscope (AFM) based scratching process to understand the associated wear mechanism. As for the nano level fabrication, better understanding of abrasive wear mechanism is a prerequisite. A three-dimensional molecular dynamics (MD) study has been performed and we have used a new parameter wear volume to distinguish between different wear zones. A reduced number of zones have been proposed to understand the wear mechanism during nanoscratching process. Also, centrosymmetry parameter has been used to validate the findings.

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Correspondence to Sung-Gaun Kim.

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This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Associate Editor In-Ha Sung

Hanif Muhammad Khan received his B.Sc. in Mechanical engineering from Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Bangladesh in 2008. He received his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Kongju National University in South Korea. Now he is at the University of Perugia, Italy, studying European Master in Theoretical Chemistry and Computational Modelling (EMTCCM). His research interests include nano-mechanics.

Sung-Gaun Kim is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering at Kongju National University, Korea. He received his Ph.D. in Mechatronics from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology and M.S. in Automation and Design Engineering from KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Korea. His current research interests include Molecular Dynamics & Mechanics, Intelligent Robot, Control and Design of bio/nano mechatronics system, Computer Vision, etc. He has published many research papers in various national and international journals and conferences.

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Khan, H.M., Kim, SG. On the wear mechanism of thin nickel film during AFM-based scratching process using molecular dynamics. J Mech Sci Technol 25, 2111–2120 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-011-0606-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-011-0606-6

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