Abstract
Cartilage is well lubricated over a lifetime and this phenomenon is attributed to both of the surface hydration lubrication and the matrix load-bearing capacity. Lubricious hydrogels with a layered structure are designed to mimic cartilage as potential replacements. While many studies have concentrated on improving surface hydration to reduce friction, few have experimentally detected the relationship between load-bearing capacity of hydrogels and their interface friction behavior. In this work, a bilayer hydrogel, serving as a cartilage prototype consisted of a top thick hydrated polymer brush layer and a bottom hydrogel matrix with tunable modulus was designed to investigate this relationship. The coefficient of friction (COF, μ) is defined as the sum of interfacial component (μInt) and deformation/hysteresis component (μHyst). The presence of the top hydration layer effectively dissipates contact stress and reduces the interface interaction (μInt), leading to a stable and low COF. The contribution of mechanical deformation (μHyst) during the sliding shearing process to COF can be significantly reduced by increasing the local mechanical modulus, thereby enhancing the load-bearing capacity. These results show that the strategy of coupling surface hydration layer with a high load-bearing matrix can indeed enhance the lubrication performance of hydrogel cartilage prototypes, and implies a promising routine for designing robust soft matter lubrication system and friction-control devices.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful for financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (22032006, 52075522, 52322506), Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB 0470201), Outstanding Youth Fund of Gansu Province (21JR7RA095), Key Research Project of Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2021ZD27), Gansu Province Basic Research Innovation Group Project (22JR5RA093), West Light Foundation of The Chinese Academy of Sciences (xbzg-zdsys-202211).
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The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. The author Shuanhong MA is the Youth Editorial Board Member of this journal. The author Feng ZHOU is the Editorial Board Member of this journal.
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Yunlei ZHANG. He received his B.S. degree from Northwest Normal University, China, in 2018. He graduated and obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics (LICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2023. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS). His research mainly focuses on the friction, adhesion, and lubrication of soft materials such as supramolecular polymers and gels.
Shuanhong MA. He received his B.S. in Tianshui Normal University, China, in 2011. He got his Ph.D. degree in LICP, CAS, in 2016. He is currently a professor of State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, LICP, CAS. He has published over 90 papers (e.g., Nat Commun, PNAS, Matter), obtained more than 20 patents for invention, and received nearly 3,000 citations. His current research interests focus on the mechanics of soft contact interface, lubrication modification & friction control.
Feng ZHOU. He got his Ph.D. degree in 2004 in LICP, CAS. He spent three years (2005–2008) in the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK, as a postdoctoral research associate. He is currently a professor and director of State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, LICP, CAS. He has published over 500 papers (e.g., Nat Commun, Sci Adv, PNAS, Matter), obtained more than 160 patents for invention, and received over 20,000 citations. His research interests are surfaces/interfaces of soft matters, functional wet/slippery coatings, and friction control.
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Exploring the relevance between load-bearing capacity and surface friction behavior based on a layered hydrogel cartilage prototype
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Zhang, Y., Zhao, W., Zhao, X. et al. Exploring the relevance between load-bearing capacity and surface friction behavior based on a layered hydrogel cartilage prototype. Friction 12, 1757–1770 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-023-0846-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-023-0846-3