Triboemission of charged particles and resistivity of solids

The relation between the triboemission intensity of negatively and positively charged particles and the resistivity of solids was investigated for various solids including metals, ceramics and polymers. It has been found that the triboemission intensity increases steeply and the ratios of the charge intensity of the negatively to positively charged particles decreases gradually with an increase of the resistivity of the solids. These results show that the resistivity of solids governs the triboelectromagnetic phenomena and that the emission mechanism and the characteristics shift from those of conductors through semi-conductors to insulators with the increase of the resistivity of solids. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.