Performances of ultrasonic motor (USM) considerably depend on contact state between stator and rotor.Based on an electric contact method,the effects of thickness of single homogeneous friction material and gradient friction material on contact state between stator and rotor were studied.The relative contact length was employed to describe the contact characteristics of stator and rotor.With the decrease of thickness of friction material,the contact characteristic of stator and rotor were analyzed and compared when single homogeneous friction material and gradient friction material were used.The experimental results showed that the effect of gradient friction material on contact characteristic is smaller than that of single homogeneous friction material when the thickness of friction material decreases.The result can provide experimental guidance for design and choosing of friction material for USM.