Abstract
Abstract The mechanisms of energy dissipation are discussed in this paper by reviewing the models and research in atomic-scale friction. The study is undertaken to answer a fundamental question in the study of friction: How is frictional work dissipated, particularly in cases where material damage and wear are not involved. The initiation of energy dissipation, the role of structural commensurability, and the estimation of the interfacial shear strength have been examined in detail by introducing the Tomlinson model, the Frenkel-Kontorova model, and the cobblestone model, respectively. The discussion is extended to energy dissipation progress described in terms of phononic and electronic damping. The contributions from other mechanisms of dissipation such as viscoelastic relaxation and material wear are also included. As an example, we analyzed a specific process of dissipation in multilayer graphene, on the basis of results of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, which reveal a reversible part of energy that circulates between the system and the external driver. This leads us to emphasize that it is crucial in future studies to clearly define the coefficient of dissipation.
Highlights
Why does friction exist universally between surfaces in relative motion? How is it created in the first place? These are fundamental questions that Leonardo da Vinci considered more than 500 years ago, and the questions that scientists and engineers have asked over the centuries
The cobblestone model explains that due to the presence of atomic-scale roughness, a sliding motion is always accompanied by surface separation and approach, and it is the energy difference between the two motions that determines the magnitude of friction
How is frictional work dissipated, especially when material damage and wear are not involved? To answer this question, the mechanisms of energy dissipation have been discussed in this paper by reviewing the models and research that apply to atomic-scale friction, leading to the following concluding remarks
Summary
Why does friction exist universally between surfaces in relative motion? How is it created in the first place? These are fundamental questions that Leonardo da Vinci considered more than 500 years ago, and the questions that scientists and engineers have asked over the centuries. Energy dissipation was not considered a problem difficult to explain as long as the frictional work was assumed to be dissipated through plastic deformation and material damage [2]. This is true for clean metal surfaces in contact and sliding. The problem of explaining energy dissipation has generally been recognized by scientists through the end of the 20th century [3], but it was David Tabor who clearly identified the problem and brought it to the attention of the tribology community twenty years ago in a NATO-sponsored conference on the Fundamentals of Friction.
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