PhD Research: Lubrication by polymer mesophases

Lubrication is of high importance in our everyday life. Not only in the human body, where lubrication is of high significance in joints or during food processing, but also in personal care products such as shampoos, conditioner or, as the focus of this project , shaving, lubrication is a key issue. Whilst lubrication in the human body is usually mediated by proteins, personal care products use mostly polymers and surfactants to achieve efficient lubrication. Due to concentrations increase as a result of confinement in many application scenarios of personal care products, the lubrication behaviour of polymer mesophases, which are present at high polymer concentrations, is very relevant and the focuse our investigation.

Novel lubricants for shaving application are accessed in terms of their lubricity, load bearing property and self-healing capacity. To evaluate the frictional behaviour of the lubricant candidates at the micro scale, colloidal probe Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is applied. For comprehensive studies on the macro scale, simulating shaving conditions, the Mini Traction Machine (MTM) is the instrument of choice.