Measurement of dynamic viscoelasticity of confined lubricant by using oscillating optical fiber probe

Abstract

When a liquid is confined in molecularly narrow gaps, it shows characteristic viscoelasticity such as enhanced viscosity or prolonged relaxation time. In order to investigate the dynamic viscoelasticity of the confined liquid, we developed a new shear force measuring method that uses a ball-ended optical fiber as a shearing probe. Our method can measure the shear force of 0.1 nN order with the oscillation frequency of up to 10 kHz. In addition, the gap that confines the liquid can be set at any constant value ranging from 10 µm to 0.1 nm. In this study, we measured the gap dependence of viscoelasticity of confined liquid lubricants. The gap ranged from 200 nm to a few nm. The tested lubricant was Fomblin Z03 and Zdo14000. A magnetic disk was used as the solid substrate. Oscillation frequency was set at 800 Hz. The experiment showed the viscosity of both Z03 and Zdo14000 gradually increased as the confining gap decreased. The gap width where the viscosity increase started was wider than 100 nm, which is dozens of times larger than the gyration diameter of lubricant molecules. Although Z03 and Zdo14000 have negligibly small elasticity in a bulk state, elasticity suddenly appeared at gaps less than about 8 nm with Zdo14000, and at gaps less than about 4 nm with Z03. Stronger affinity of Zdo14000 molecules to the solid substrate could cause the wider gap width of elasticity appearance.