BOONE – Friction is good on a cold morning when you rub your hands together to stay warm. It’s not good when a machine overheats from its moving parts.

Solving problems associated with friction is a hurdle that must be crossed before scientists and engineers can create nano-scale or miniaturized machines with moving parts.

That’s where the nanotribologist can help.

Tonya Coffey, an assistant professor in Appalachian State University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, is a nanotribologist. She studies friction on the nano-scale and is working to understand how to improve and design lubricants that one day might be used on micro-machines.

Consumers benefit from nanotechnology every day. Automobile air bags are controlled by MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems) pressure sensors. Nanotechnology helps make cell phones smaller. And it’s the technology that allows college students to store thousands of songs on their iPods.

Nanotechnology is the science of making devices with features measuring less than one billionth of a meter.

“If you do any kind of basic research on micro-machines, you’ll learn there are none on the market that have moving parts,” Coffey said. “There is a reason for that. They destroy themselves with just a few days of operation because of the frictional forces. So if you want to have micro-machines and nano-machines with moving parts, you need to have a better understanding of nano-scale friction.”

Coffey’s ultra-high vacuum lab located in the chemistry, astronomy and physics building on campus will help her continue her research begun while she was a doctoral student at NC State University. It also will give her undergraduate student assistants exposure to the field.

Her first research project at Appalachian will be studying the molecular friction occurring in octane. Because most commercial lubricants are oil based, her findings might help scientists understand why these lubricants work. In the future, this research could help in custom-designing lubricants for particular applications.

“Lubricants designed for use on the macro-scale, such as automobiles or airplanes, won’t work with nano-machines. The viscosity is wrong; it gums up the parts,” Coffey said. “More study needs to be done in the area of nano-scale friction if we want any of this technology to work in the future.”