Design of Experiments technique for characterisation of friction in dry contact

A hybrid experimental?statistical method is proposed for characterisation of friction in dry contact. The Design of Experiments (DOE) is introduced to determine the effect of different levels of applied normal load, relative surface speed, surface roughness, and materials Young's modulus and their cross-influence on friction characteristics of dry surfaces. The design is performed using Response Surface Method (RSM). The Coefficient of Friction (CoF) with the variation of the factor levels is investigated experimentally on a micro-tribometer UMT-2 machine. CoF is analysed as a non-linear function of the factors and predicted by a second-order polynomial equation.