The static coefficient of friction is generally calculated from maximum friction force that must be overcome to initiate relative

motion between the mated surfaces of two bodies. It depends on the area of contact, normal load, surrounding atmosphere and temperature, surface adsorbates or interfacial media, surface finishing and last but not least on the pair of materials in contact [3,4]. Summarising, we generally can say that the low CoF values obtained for all surfaces are proof of good surface quality of the stainless steel block, as well as the samples [1]. Contact surface roughness has direct influence on the static friction coefficient. Generally, it can be assured that the static friction coefficient increases with surface roughness parameters [2]. 1 - U. Muller, R. Hauert: Investigations of the coefficient of static friction diamond-like carbon films, Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 174 175, pp. 421426, 2003. 2 - B. Ivkovic, M. Djurdjanovic, D. Stamenkovic: The Influence of the Contact Surface Roughness on the Static Friction Coefficient, Tribology in Industry, Vol. 22, No. 3&4, pp. 41-44, 2000. 3 - K.-H. Zum Gahr, K. Voelker, Friction and wear of SiC fiberreinforced borosilicate glass mated to steel, Wear 225229 (1999) 88895. 4 - P. Blau, The significance and use of the friction coefficient, Tribol. Int. 34 (2001) 585591. Theoretical and experimental works had been conducted on the subject of static friction and useful models were proposed considering the effect of random distributed asperities on the surfaces of elastic solids [5], adsorbed lubricant films [6] or the conditions for the onset of relative sliding [79]. 5 - J.B. Skoloff, Static friction between elastic solids due to random asperities, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 (2001) 33123315. 6 - S. Kato, E. Marui, A. Kobayashi, S. Senda, The influence of lubricants on static friction characteristics under boundary lubrication, ASME J. Tribol. 107 (1985) 188194. 7 - M.H. Mser, M.O. Robbins, Conditions for static friction between flat crystalline surfaces, Phys. Rev. B 61 (2000) 23352342. 8 - V.L. Popov, A theory of the transition from static to kinetic friction in boundary lubrication layers, Solid State Commun. 115 (2000) 369373. 9 - G. Reiter, A.L. Demirel, J. Peanasky, L. Cai, S. Granick, What determines static friction and controls the transition to sliding, Tribol. Lett. 1 (1995) 112. Experimental studies on static friction had mostly been focused on the transition behaviour from the static to kinetic friction, which can be accompanied by undesirable effects like stickslip in practical applications. Stick-slip effects led to severe wear on self-mated steel pairs and showed a strong dependence on normal load [10]. 10 - C.-R. Yang, Y.-C. Chiou, R.-T. Lee, Tribological behaviour of reciprocating friction drive system under lubricated contact, Tribol. Int. 32 (1999) 443453. It was observed that both the static coefficient of friction and the coefficient of the steady state friction of self-mated alumina pairs were very sensitive to changes of environmental conditions, e.g. running tests in distilled water or water containing 1 wt.% carboxymethyl cellulose sodium salt [15]. Many factors, such as lubricant, load, sliding velocity, resting time and start-up acceleration, etc. influence friction behaviour of self-mated alumina. Significant

effects on static friction have also to be expected from dynamic loads including normal load, normal and tangential vibration amplitudes, and frequency of externally applied forces [16]. 15 - Y.S. Zhou, M. Ohashi, K. Ikeuchi, Start up and steady state friction of alumina against aluminia, Wear 210 (1997) 112119. 16 - J.F. Hurtado, S.N. Melkote, Workpiecefixture static friction under dynamic loading, Wear 231 (1999) 139152. Static friction of lubricated systems varies considerably according to resting time which is explained as resulting from squeezing out of lubricant during the resting so that surface asperities come into contact over the start-up time [18]. 18 - K.C. Ludema, Friction, in: B. Bhushan (Ed.), Modern Tribology Handbook, vol. I, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2001, pp. 205233. During these tests in air of 50% relative humidity, a very thin water film adsorbed to the surface can form menisci at the scale of asperities and may cause sticking effects which contribute to the instabilities in kinetic friction. A similar effect has been reported for selfmated SiC pairs at greater values of humidity [19]. 19 - K.-H. Zum Gahr, R. Blattner, D.-H. Hwang, K. Phlmann, Microand macro-tribological properties of SiC ceramics in sliding contact, Wear 250 (2001) 299310. The aim of the present paper was to study the frictional behaviour both static and sliding friction of steel/steel, steel/alumina and alumina/alumina pairs under unlubricated or oil lubricated conditions. The effect of materials mated on the static coefficient of friction appeared by the highest value with the steel/Al2O3 pair and the lowest value with the self-mated steel pair. However, the effect of surface roughness was less pronounced with the self-mated material pairs. The static coefficient of friction of the steel/Al2O3 pairs increased with increasing normal load but its value was less affected by normal load with the pairs of self-mated materials. Lubrication by mineral oil influenced the static coefficient of friction only moderately but reduced kinetic friction. Reduction of friction by lubrication was more pronounced at higher normal loads. D.-H. Hwang, K.-H. Zum Gahr: Transition from static to kinetic friction of unlubricated or oil lubricated steel/steel, steel/ceramic and ceramic/ceramic pairs, Wear, Vol. 255, pp. 365375, 2003. A model for the static friction factor of a nanolubricated contact has been derived. In this so-called elastic model, the behaviour of the quasistatically sheared system is solely dependent on the elastic properties of the unstrained film. P. Bordarier, B. Rousseau, A. H. Fuchs: A model for the static friction behaviour of nanolubricated contacts, Thin Solid Films, Vol. 330, pp. 2126, 1998. Model Thomas L. Warren, Dusan Krajcinovic: A fractal model for the static coefficient of friction at the fiber-matrix interface, Composites Part B: Engineering, Vol. 27, Issue 5, pp. 421-430, 1996.

This is due to the fact that friction and its underlying mechanisms (adhesion, asperity interlocking, asperity shear, etc.) are very sensitive to the geometry of the contacting elements and the loads applied, as well as to the tribological characteristics of the joint [1113]. In general, accurate values of coefficients of friction for fixtureworkpiece joints can only be obtained through experimentation that replicates the geometrictribologicalloading conditions of the joints. 11 - P.J. Blau, Friction Science and Technology, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, USA, 1996. 12 - W.R. Chang, I. Etsion, D.B. Bogy, Static friction coefficient model for metallic rough surfaces, Journal of Tribology, Transactions of the ASME 110 (1988) 5763. 13 - T. Hisakado, On the mechanism of contact between solid surfaces, Bulletin of the JSME 13 (1970) 129139.