Wear

Annual expenses due to friction and wear across the U.S. economy run up to hundreds of billions of dollars. To respond to this macroscopic problem, reliability research is an active area that aims at a better understanding of tribological interactions (friction, adhesion, and wear). Active biological nanomachines are also subject to friction and wear. Providing a mechanical understanding of those nanoscale phenomena is critical in securing the future of nanotechnology.

We have used our molecular shuttles (cargo-carrying microtubules propelled by surface-adhered kinesin motor proteins) as model systems to study degradation induced by nanoscale motion. With support from the National Science Foundation we found that microtubules shrink at their tips when propelled by kinesin motors (Reference 1), and that they break when bending into sharp turns (Reference 2).