Oil Films on Electroplated Gold Contact Surfaces

Abstract

This study was performed to quantify the amount of oil applied to Au electroplated sample sufaces and to support friction and wear studies performed to determine the optimum metallurgy and lubricant coverage of such samples. An oil coating technique was developed that was gravimetrically reproducible. Polarized light microscopy was used to measure oil thickness on these surfaces and document by photomacrograph the type of oil coverage present. It was determined that the type of oil coverage is influenced by the distance between the asperities of the Au electroplated surface with a secondary dependency on their shape. As oil coverage of these electroplated surfaces can be discontinuous, a method to quantify the equivalent thickness of this oil film as if it had been continuous was developed. Also a model was developed to relate surface parameters to the thickness of the oil layer.