Article abstract
Nature Materials 6, 230 - 234 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nmat1836
Subject Categories: Computation, modelling and theory | Mechanical properties | Surface and thin films
Peak effect versus skating in high-temperature nanofriction
T. Zykova-Timan1,3, D. Ceresoli1 and E. Tosatti1,2
Abstract
The physics of sliding nanofriction at high temperature near the substrate melting point, TM, is so far unexplored. We conducted simulations of hard tips sliding on a prototype non-melting surface, NaCl(100), revealing two distinct and opposite phenomena for ploughing and for grazing friction in this regime. We found a frictional drop close to TM for deep ploughing and wear, but on the contrary a frictional rise for grazing, wearless sliding. For both phenomena, we obtain a fresh microscopic understanding, relating the former to 'skating' through a local liquid cloud, and the latter to linear response properties of the free substrate surface. We argue that both phenomena occur more generally on surfaces other than NaCl and should be pursued experimentally. Most metals, in particular those possessing one or more close-packed non-melting surfaces, such as Pb, Al or Au(111), are likely to behave similarly.
- Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA) and DEMOCRITOS, Via Beirut 2-4, I-34014 Trieste, Italy
- International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), PO Box 586, I-34014 Trieste, Italy
- Present address: Computational Science Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich USI-Campus, Via Giuseppe Buffi 13, LUI CH-6900 Lugano, Switzerland
Correspondence to: E. Tosatti1,2 e-mail: tosatti@sissa.it
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