Geometrical, Microstructural, and Chemical Characterization

The chapter presents work on the geometric, structural, and chemical analysis of microscale surface structures. In the first part, the focus is on the technical and methodological developments themselves. Techniques as well as technical and methodological developments for the geometric characterization of surfaces, including the associated measuring instruments, data evaluation, and the characterization methods, are discussed. Furthermore, some special methods for the microstructural analysis of surface morphologies, in particular, with optical methods and by means of X-ray diffraction, are presented. The second part of this chapter deals with the application of microscopic, spectroscopic, and mass spectrometric techniques to characterize surfaces subjected to friction and wear. It is shown which information can be obtained with the methods mentioned and it is shown exemplarily how, on the one hand, technologies that have been developed for analysis can be used to generate defined surface structures. On the other hand, special microscopic surface structures have been developed that can also be used beneficially for the investigation of tribological processes.