Accelerated nano-fretting testing of Si(1Â 0Â 0)

► A new nano-fretting test has been used to study wear under tangential fretting oscillation on Si. ► The wear mechanism was strongly dependent on applied load and loading rate. ► With abrupt loading, radial and lateral cracking and material removal was observed. ► With slow loading, radial cracking was absent, with a transition to more severe wear at high load.