Abstract
We used molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the friction of a single asperity against a rigid substrate, while generating debris. In the low wear regime (i.e., non-linear wear rate dependence on the contact stress, via atom-by-atom attrition), the frictional stress is linearly dependent on the normal stress, without any lubrication effect from the wear debris particles. Both the slope (friction coefficient) and friction at zero normal stress depend strongly on asperity-substrate adhesion. In the high wear regime (i.e., linear wear rate dependence on the contact stress, via plastic flow), the friction-normal stress curves deviate from a linear relation merging toward plastic flow of the single asperity which is independent of the interfacial adhesion. One can further link wear and friction by considering debris generation as chemical reaction, driven by both normal and frictional forces. The coupling between wear and friction can then be quantified by a thermodynamic efficiency of the debris generation. While the efficiency is less than 5% in the low wear regime, indicating poor mechanochemical coupling, it increases with normal stress toward 50% in the high wear regime.
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Acknowledgement
We thank Professors Liping Huang (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Thierry Blanchet (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Izabela Szlufarska (Univ. of Wisconsin), Rob Carpick (Univ. Pennsylvania), Mark Robbins (Johns Hopkins) and Michael Falk (Johns Hopkins) for useful discussions. We are grateful to the support from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. CMMI-1031408). Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out in LAMMPS using supercomputers in the Computational Center for Innovations (CCI) at RPI.
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Yunfeng SHI. He received his Ph.D. degree in materials science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2006. He then spent two years in North Carolina State University as a postdoctoral research associate. Dr. Shi joins the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Fall 2008 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 2014. His research focuses on simulation and modeling of advanced materials systems. His recent interests include nanoporous carbon, molecular motors, energetic materials, nanotribology and metallic glasses.
Yongjian YANG. He received his Ph.D. degree in materials engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York in 2017. Now he is a postdoctoral scholar at the Penn State University in State College. His research interests include nanotribology, glass science, metal-organic framework, etc., using molecular simulation.
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Yang, Y., Shi, Y. Single asperity friction in the wear regime. Friction 6, 316–322 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-018-0239-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-018-0239-1