TY - JOUR A1 - Kovalev, Alexander E. A1 - Dening, Kirstin A1 - Persson, Bo N. J. A1 - Gorb, Stanislav N. T1 - Surface topography and contact mechanics of dry and wet human skin JF - Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology PY - 2014/// VL - 5 SP - 1341 EP - 1348 SN - 2190-4286 DO - 10.3762/bjnano.5.147 PB - Beilstein-Institut JA - Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. UR - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.5.147 KW - contact mechanics KW - interface fluid KW - roughness power spectrum KW - skin tribology N2 - The surface topography of the human wrist skin is studied by using optical and atomic force microscopy (AFM) methods. By using these techniques the surface roughness power spectrum is obtained. The Persson contact mechanics theory is used to calculate the contact area for different magnifications, for the dry and wet skin. The measured friction coefficient between a glass ball and dry and wet skin can be explained assuming that a frictional shear stress σf ≈ 13 MPa and σf ≈ 5 MPa, respectively, act in the area of real contact during sliding. These frictional shear stresses are typical for sliding on surfaces of elastic bodies. The big increase in friction, which has been observed for glass sliding on wet skin as the skin dries up, can be explained as result of the increase in the contact area arising from the attraction of capillary bridges. Finally, we demonstrated that the real contact area can be properly defined only when a combination of both AFM and optical methods is used for power spectrum calculation. ER -