Erin E. Flater Assistant Professor Physics Department Luther College	CONTACT INFO: Valders 103D Office phone: (563) 387-1632 My schedule Fall 2008

EDUCATION -- TEACHING -- RESEARCH -- PUBLICATIONS -- LINKS

Education: (top)

PhD, MS Engineering Mechanics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
BA Physics, BA Spanish, Luther College

PhD Thesis- "Toward prediction of MEMS performance: A multiscale approach to understanding friction"
Webpage while at the Carpick Nanomechanics Lab at UW-Madison: http://silver.neep.wisc.edu/~flater/

Teaching: (top)

Fall 2008
Physics 281- Modern Physics

Classes previously taught:
Physics 152 (summer session)
Physics 151 and 152 labs
Physics 281- Modern Physics
Physics 352- Mechanics of Materials
Physics 361- Classical Mechanics
Science 111- Physical Science

Research: Investigating the fundamental origins of friction (top)

Friction is a common phenomenon, frequently experienced in daily life. The detrimental effects of friction are easy to point out: the squeaky door caused by unnecessary rubbing of the metal hinge parts, the heavy clothes dresser that is difficult to move across the floor, tire tread and brake pad wear caused by friction during abrupt car braking. Despite numerous negative examples of friction, there are also many devices and tasks dependent on friction. Maintaining traction on an icy sidewalk, warming one’s hands by rubbing them together, and playing a violin are just a few examples of the positive effects of friction.

Tribology is the study of friction, wear, and lubrication, and like many other scientific fields, historical tribology has grown out of the complex relationship between scientific curiosity and technological need. Mediating friction for technological improvement motivates better scientific understanding, which in turn brings about novel applications that make use of the newly-discovered fundamental concepts.

The goal of my research is to seek out a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of friction. I use the atomic force microscope (AFM) to determine nanoscale constitutive laws for frictional contacts. In my graduate work I studied the frictional mechanisms of self-assembled monolayers, such as octadecyltricholorsilane (OTS).

For more information, see my research page.

Publications: (top)

PEER-REVIEWED

E.E.Flater, W.R. Ashurst, R.W.Carpick, "Nanotribology of octadecyltrichlorosilane monolayers and silicon: Self-mated vs. unmated interfaces and local packing density effects", Lanmguir 23 (2007) p.9242-9252. Available online.

E.E.Flater, A.D.Corwin, M.P.de Boer, R.W.Carpick, “In-situ wear studies of surface micromachined interfaces subject to controlled loading”, Wear 260, 6 (2006) p.580-593. Available online

D.S.Grierson, E.E.Flater, R.W.Carpick, “The JKR-DMT transition as applied to Atomic Force Microscopy measurements”, Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology 19, 3–5 (2005) p. 291–311. Available online.

C.K.Bora, E.Flater, M.D.Street, J.M.Redmond, M.J.Starr, R.W.Carpick, M.E.Plesha, “Multiscale Roughness and Modeling of MEMS Interfaces”, Tribology Letters 19, 1 (2005) p.37-48. Available online.

R.W.Carpick, E.E.Flater, K.Sridharan, D.F.Ogletree, M.Salmeron, "Atomic scale friction and its connections to fracture mechanics", JoM 56,10 (2004) p.48-52. Available online.

Links: (top)

Physics Department Homepage

Luther Homepage

last updated 2/12/08