Axis 2 : SURFACE & INTERFACE PROBING

The development of surface and interface engineering requires a constant progress in dedicated characterization methods. Those methods enable access to the optical, mechanical and/or physico-chemical properties of surfaces/interfaces, as well as sometimes to their spatial distribution and time evolution. Those pieces of information are crucial, for instance to validate a surface texturing protocol, or to interpret the response of an interface to various external stimuli (mechanical, optical, chemical).

The objective of the axis is to favor the emergence of multidisciplinary projects aiming at pushing back the current experimental limitations in the scientific community interested in surface and interface probing:
- by improving the existing methods, for instance by increasing their resolution (spatial, temporal, spectral), by adding multi-scale or multi-spectral capabilities, or by converting single point/time measurements into distributed/dynamic measurements,
- by coupling several existing methods within a single tool (multi-physics),
- by extending the measurement capabilities to severe conditions (vacuum/confinement, extreme temperatures, aggressive environment, reactive species, …),
- by developing methods enabling original measurements.


Fig.1 : Schematic representation of the numerous mechanical and physico-chemical processes potentially happening at a contact interface, the characterization of which is desirable (adapted from: Vakis et al, Tribol. Int. 2018).


Keywords : Experimental characterization ; In situ & in operando ; Multi-scale ; Multi-physics ; Multi-spectral ; Surface reactivity ; Severe environment/conditions.