6533b85dfe1ef96bd12be87e
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Simple Microscopic Theory of Amontons' Laws for Static Friction
Mark O. RobbinsLudgar WenningMartin H. Müsersubject
PhysicsSurface (mathematics)Condensed Matter - Materials ScienceAnalytic modelMaterials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)FOS: Physical sciencesGeneral Physics and Astronomy02 engineering and technologyCondensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology53001 natural sciencesStatic frictionMolecular dynamicsClassical mechanicsSimple (abstract algebra)Law0103 physical sciencesRare caseSoft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)Surface geometryMicroscopic theory010306 general physics0210 nano-technologydescription
A microscopic theory for the ubiquitous phenomenon of static friction is presented. Interactions between two surfaces are modeled by an energy penalty that increases exponentially with the degree of surface overlap. The resulting static friction is proportional to load, in accordance with Amontons' laws. However the friction coefficient between bare surfaces vanishes as the area of individual contacts grows, except in the rare case of commensurate surfaces. An area independent friction coefficient is obtained for any surface geometry when an adsorbed layer of mobile atoms is introduced between the surfaces. The predictions from our simple analytic model are confirmed by atomistically detailed molecular dynamics simulations.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001-02-12 |