Evolution Of Real Contact Area Research Articles

Friction hysteretic behavior of supported atomically thin nanofilms

Hysteretic friction behavior has been observed on varied 2D nanofilms. However, no unanimous conclusion has yet been drawn on to the exact mechanism or relative contribution of each mechanism to the observed behavior. Here we report on hysteretic friction behavior of supported atomically thin nanofilms studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM) experiments and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Load dependent friction measurements were conducted on unheated and heated samples of graphene, h-BN, and MoS2 supported by silica substrates. Two diverging friction trends are reported: the unheated samples showed higher friction during unloading than during loading, and the heated samples showed a reversed hysteresis. Further, the friction force increased sub-linearly with normal force for heated samples, compared with unheated samples. Tapping mode AFM suggested that the interaction strength of the substrate was increased with heating. Roughened substrates in the MD simulations that mimicked strong/weak interaction forces reproduced the experimental observations and revealed that the evolution of real contact area in different interface interaction situation caused the diverging behaviors. Surface roughness and interaction strength were found to be the key parameters for controlling the out-of-plane deformation of atomically thin nanofilms.

Study on the Evolution of Real Contact Area between Elastic-plastic Rough Surfaces

Study on the Evolution of Real Contact Area between Elastic-plastic Rough Surfaces

Experimental analysis of interface contact behavior using a novel image processing method* *Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11872033) and the Beijing Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant No. 3172017).

The spatial and temporal evolution of real contact area of contact interface with loads is a challenge. It is generally believed that there is a positive linear correlation between real contact area and normal load. However, with the development of measuring instruments and methods, some scholars have found that the growth rate of real contact area will slow down with the increase of normal load under certain conditions, such as large-scale interface contact with small roughness surface, which is called the nonlinear phenomenon of real contact area. At present, there is no unified conclusion on the explanation of this phenomenon. We set up an experimental apparatus based on the total reflection principle to verify this phenomenon and analyze its mechanism. An image processing method is proposed, which can be used to quantitative analysis micro contact behaviors on macro contact phenomenon. The weighted superposition method is used to identify micro contact spots, to calculate the real contact area, and the color superimposed image is used to identify micro contact behaviors. Based on this method, the spatiotemporal evolution mechanism of real contact area nonlinear phenomena is quantitatively analyzed. Furthermore, the influence of nonlinear phenomenon of real contact area on the whole loading and unloading process is analyzed experimentally. It is found that the effects of fluid between contact interface, normal load amplitude and initial contact state on contact behavior cannot be ignored in large-scale interface contact with small roughness surface.

Dynamic fields at the tip of sub-Rayleigh and supershear frictional rupture fronts

The onset of frictional motion at the interface between two distinct bodies in contact is characterized by the propagation of dynamic rupture fronts. We combine friction experiments and numerical simulations to study the properties of these frictional rupture fronts. We extend previous analysis of slow and sub-Rayleigh rupture fronts and show that strain fields and the evolution of real contact area in the tip vicinity of supershear ruptures are well described by analytical fracture-mechanics solutions. Fracture-mechanics theory further allows us to determine long sought-after interface properties, such as local fracture energy and frictional peak strength. Both properties are observed to be roughly independent of rupture speed and mode of propagation. However, our study also reveals discrepancies between measurements and analytical solutions that appear as the rupture speed approaches the longitudinal wave speed. Further comparison with dynamic simulations illustrates that, in the supershear propagation regime, transient and geometrical (finite sample thickness) effects cause smaller near-tip strain amplitudes than expected from the fracture-mechanics theory. By showing good quantitative agreement between experiments, simulations and theory over the entire range of possible rupture speeds, we demonstrate that frictional rupture fronts are classic dynamic cracks despite residual friction.

Evolution of real contact area during stick-slip movement observed by total reflection method**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11872033) and the Beijing Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant No. 3172017).

We build an experiment system based on total reflection (TR) method to observe the evolution of real contact area of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) in the continual stick-slip movement. The bilateral friction is adopted to overcome the bending moment in the lateral friction movement. Besides some classical phenomena of stick-slip movement such as periodical slow increase of frictional force in sticking phase and a sudden drop when slipping, a special phenomenon that the contact area increases with the tangential force is observed, which was called junction growth by Tabor in 1959. Image processing methods are developed to observe the variation of the junction area. The results show that the center of the strongest contact region will keep sticking under the tangential force until the whole slipping, the strongest point undergoes three stages in one cycle, which are named as sticking stage, fretting stage, and cracking stage, respectively. The combined analysis reveals a physical process of stick-slip movement: the tangential force causes the increase of the real contact area, which reduces the pressure between the contact spots and finally leads to the slipping. Once slipping occurs, the real contact area drops to the original level resulting in the pressure increase to the original level, which makes the sticking happen again.

FRACTURE MECHANICS SIMPLE CALCULATIONS TO EXPLAIN SMALL REDUCTION OF THE REAL CONTACT AREA UNDER SHEAR

In a very recent paper, Sahli and coauthors [12] (R. Sahli et al., 2018, “Evolution of real contact area under shear”, PNAS, 115(3), pp. 471-476) studied the contact area evolution for macroscopic smooth spheres under shear load in presence of adhesion. It was found that contact area AA reduces quadratically with respect to shear load T, i.e. A=A0-alphaAT2, where A0 is the contact area with no shearing, and alphaA is the "area reduction parameter" found to be approximately proportional to A0-3/2 across 4 orders of magnitude of A0. In this note we focus on the smooth sphere/plane contact because we believe that the case of a rough contact requires separate investigations, and we use a known model of fracture mechanics, which contains a fitting parameter b which governs the interplay between fractures modes, in order to find very good agreement between the data and the analytical predictions, developing relatively simple equations. The interaction with modes is limited.

Evolution of real contact area under shear and the value of static friction of soft materials

The frictional properties of a rough contact interface are controlled by its area of real contact, the dynamical variations of which underlie our modern understanding of the ubiquitous rate-and-state friction law. In particular, the real contact area is proportional to the normal load, slowly increases at rest through aging, and drops at slip inception. Here, through direct measurements on various contacts involving elastomers or human fingertips, we show that the real contact area also decreases under shear, with reductions as large as 30[Formula: see text], starting well before macroscopic sliding. All data are captured by a single reduction law enabling excellent predictions of the static friction force. In elastomers, the area-reduction rate of individual contacts obeys a scaling law valid from micrometer-sized junctions in rough contacts to millimeter-sized smooth sphere/plane contacts. For the class of soft materials used here, our results should motivate first-order improvements of current contact mechanics models and prompt reinterpretation of the rate-and-state parameters.

The mechanics of snow friction as revealed by micro-scale interface observations

ABSTRACTThe mechanics of snow friction are central to competitive skiing, safe winter driving and efficient polar sleds. For nearly 80 years, prevailing theory has postulated that self-lubrication accounts for low kinetic friction on snow: dry-contact sliding warms snow grains to the melting point, and further sliding produces meltwater layers that lubricate the interface. We sought to verify that self-lubrication occurs at the grain scale and to quantify the evolution of real contact area to aid modeling. We used high-resolution (15 µm) infrared thermography to observe the warming of stationary snow under a rotating polyethylene slider. Surprisingly, we did not observe melting at contacting snow grains despite low friction values. In some cases, slider shear failed inter-granular bonds and produced widespread snow movement with no persistent contacts to melt (μ < 0.03). When the snow grains did not move and persistent contacts evolved, the slider abraded rather than melted the grains at low resistance (μ < 0.05). Optical microscopy revealed that the abraded particles deposited in air pockets between grains and thereby carried heat away from the interface, a process not included in current models. Overall, our results challenge whether self-lubrication is indeed the dominant mechanism underlying low snow kinetic friction.

Comparison of asperity flattening under different wavelength models for sheet metal forming

Asperity flattening study plays an important role in predicting the friction behavior at the interface and the surface roughness transfer during sheet metal-forming process. This paper presents a comparison of asperity flattening activities under 1-wavelength, 2-wavelength and 3-wavelength finite-element models developed based on a power spectral density (PSD) analysis of measured data on steel sheet surfaces. First, a proper asperity thickness for the modeling has been determined by the investigation of plastic strain distribution along the depth of asperity. The comparison then examines the evolution of real contact area, surface roughness, contact pressure distribution and variation of friction force at the interface between a tool and a workpiece drawn from different wavelength simplification models under various friction conditions. It is concluded that 3-wavelength model has closer results to experimental measurements and introduces less contact area and more local pressure concentrations than those from the other two models.

Phenomenological model of real contact area evolution with account for bulk plastic deformation in metal forming

A phenomenological description of the evolution of real contact area in metal forming processes is presented with account for the effect of bulk plastic flow. A thin surface layer is considered and assumed to be weakened by the localized plastic deformation around surface asperities. The yield condition of this layer is expressed in terms of contact stresses, plastic strain rate of the bulk and real contact area fraction and its rate. The model applicability is illustrated by comparing its predictions of real contact area variation, depending on bulk strain, with predictions of micro-mechanical models and with experimental data.