This contribution presents a new ballon-disk vacuum tribometer with in situ and real time measurement of the wear track by digital holographic microscopy (DHM). The new instrument was tested and validated by taking DHM images during wear test at room temperature and in vacuum at 2.10-6 mbar on polished 100Cr6 disks. 3D wear track evolution can be analyzed by this new technique in real time without removing the sample. An excellent correlation was found between images taken on the same sample by in situ, real time DHM, and by traditional scanning electron microscopy and confocal microscopy.

Asiatrib-2018, pp. 109-110