Adhesion on the Nanometer Scale

Adhesion, wear, and friction are closely related to the interactions and mechanical responses that occur between and within nanometer-sized surface structures. Thus, besides being interesting in its own right, the study of material properties on this length scale provides the basis for an understanding of phenomenologically well-known macroscopic features on a fundamental level. Experimentally, the nanometer regime has become accessible by the development of scanning tunneling microscopy. Interaction mechanics on the nanometer scale are addressed in this paper from this perspective, both in terms of theoretical concepts and recent experimental work.