Stability analysis of ultrathin lubricant films via surface energy measurements and molecular dynamics simulations

Abstract

The stability of nanoscale lubricant films was analyzed via both surface energy measurements and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Using the sessile method, the contact angles of deionized water and n-dodecane on Zdol lubricant films were measured to examine the dispersive and polar surface energy as well as the nanofilm stability. By calculating the free energy from MD simulations, we investigated surface energy of the lubricant film. Furthermore, the film disjoining pressure and the stability diagram were constructed from MD simulations to examine the layering structures in spreading phenomena. Our analysis exclusively focuses on the effects of the end-functionality and molecular weight.