TY - JOUR A1 - Reichelt, Manuel A1 - Cappella, Brunero T1 - Micro- and nanowear of self-mated steel generated and studied with an AFM at the single asperity level N2 - We show for the first time tribotests performed with self-mated 100Cr6 steel, taking advantage of an AFM, employed as a tribometer for the tribotests as well as for the inspection of wear of both tribopartners. Emphasis is put on the morphology of the scars, on wear particles, and on wear of the “colloidal” particles glued on the AFM cantilever. Measurements demonstrate the possibility of characterizing single asperity events leading to very small wear. We highlight several phenomena, which are elementary key constituents of tribological processes. Such phenomena, probably occurring also at the macroscale, can be detected, identified, and characterized with high spatial and time resolution only at the nanoscale, thus giving insight into conditions and causes of their emergence. KW - Nanowear KW - Atomic force microscope KW - 100Cr6 (AISI 52100) steel KW - Wear particles KW - Single asperity contact KW - Particle transfer KW - Zero wear PY - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-531389 SN - 2297-3079 VL - 7 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne AN - OPUS4-53138 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -