Force sensor for tribology measurements

A highly sensitive multiaxis force sensor has been designed for mechanical characterization of materials or coatings, including ball bearings, tool parts or lubricated parts. It is currently used for measuring friction coefficient, and could be further used for scratch testing, indentation testing and 3-point bend testing, and buckling testing. This 6-component sensor is connected to an independent deformable structure that can modified to reach specific axis-related resolutions and match customers requirements. Data processing is achieved using an autonomous FPGA calculator to obtain force measurement values on each of the 6 axes with an adapted scale.