Abstract
Inorganic solid surfaces which have various surface free energies, 30∼65 dyn/cm, were probed using a Si3N4 cantilever tip. It was found that the attractive force (∼10-7 N), which is generated when a cantilever tip moves away from a solid surface after making contact, is more sensitive to the behavior of surface free energy than that (∼10-9 N) which is generated when the tip moves toward the surface. The relationship between the elastic potential energy of the cantilever and the adhesion energy of the tip-surface system is also discussed.