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A single nanoasperity contact in ambient air is usually wetted by capillary condensation of water vapor and is surrounded by a water meniscus. This phenomenon strongly affects the contact friction, not only by the effect of meniscus loading force (superficial tension and capillary forces), but also by a friction force that accounts for the energy loss in the meniscus movement along with the sliding contact. Occurrence of the water-meniscus-generated friction is experimentally proved by atomic force microscopy measurements of the tip–sample friction force at minimum possible external load (before pull-off). A qualitative explanation for the observed dependence of the friction force on air humidity and solid surface wettability is proposed.
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Lucel Sirghi (2003) studied this question.
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