Low-cost automatic device for obtaining the coefficient of static friction

Considering that the coefficient of friction between materials is one of the important characteristics in the design, either by wear or by requiring friction for power transmission, and this value is usually achieved in tables and these values come out of experimentation or results with tests using devices. Furthermore, these devices are not often found in the laboratories of the universities. For this reason, it was decided to adopt one of the methods of calculation, in this case the inclined plane. This consists of finding the angle of inclination in which one material begins to slide on another, since calculating the tangent of this angle determines the coefficient of friction. To this end, a device was built, consisting of a platform that by means of a mechanism is tilted little by little, until the object under study begins to move. In addition, to exclude human error, the device has sensors and an adequate control, in such a way that the process is completely automatic. Finally, the device is based on open technology, such as Arduino, managing to build a device to obtain the coefficient of friction at low cost. Its development and the results obtained are shown in this paper.