Stick-slip friction atomic

Zhang, T., Wang, H., and Hu, Y. Z., Atomic Stick-Slip Friction Between Commensurate Self-Assembled Monolayers," Tribology Letters, Vol. 14, No. 2,2003, pp. 69-76. 

The dependence of friction on sliding velocity is more complicated. Apparent stick-slip motions between SAM covered mica surfaces were observed at the low velocity region, which would disappear when the sliding velocity excesses a certain threshold [35]. In AFM experiments when the tip scanned over the monolayers at low speeds, friction force was reported to increase with the logarithm of the velocity, which is similar to that observed when the tip scans on smooth substrates. This is interpreted in terms of thermal activation that results in depinning of interfacial atoms in case that the potential barrier becomes small [36]. 

It has been recognized that the behavior of atomic friction, such as stick-slip, creep, and velocity dependence, can be understood in terms of the energy structure of multistable states and noise activated motion. Noises like thermal activities may cause the atom to jump even before AUq becomes zero, but the time when the atom is activated depends on sliding velocity in such a way that for a given energy barrier, AI/q the probability of activation increases with decreasing velocity. It has been demonstrated [14] that the mechanism of noise activation leads to "the velocity... 

In summary, sliding can be regarded as a process during which interfacial atoms would experience a series of stick-slip motions, similar to the jump in and out in the adhesion case, and it is the energy loss in this approach/separation cycle that determines the level of friction. 

From the point of view of system d5mamics, the transition from rest to sliding observed in static friction originates from the same mechanism as the stick-slip transition in kinetic friction, which is schematically shown in Fig. 31. The surfaces at rest are in stable equilibrium where interfacial atoms sit in energy minima. As lateral force on one of the surfaces increases (loading), the system experiences a similar process as to what happens in the stick phase that the surface... 

Friction and Atomic Level Stick-Slip Motion. 

Transition from Stick-Slip to Continuous Sliding in Atomic Friction Entering a New Regime of Ultralow Friction. 

Differences in the frictional properties of most plastics can be explained in terms of the ratio of shear strenghth to hardness. Shooter and Tabor observed that the coefficients of friction for polytetrafluoroethylene are 2—3 times lower than anticipated by this calculation. It is believed that this discrepancy is caused by the inherently low cohesive forces between adjacent polymer chains and is responsible for the absence of stick-slip. The large fluorine atoms effectively screen the large carbon-fluorine dipole, reducing molecular cohesion so that the shear force at the interface is low. The shear strength of the bulk material is higher because of interlocking molecular chains. 

Macroscopic stick-slip motion described above applies to the center of mass movement of the bodies. However, even in situations where the movement of the overall mass is smooth and steady, there may occur local, microscopic stick-slip. This involves the movement of single atoms, molecular groups, or asperities. In fact, such stick-slip events form the basis of microscopic models of friction and are the explanation why the friction force is largely independent of speed (see Section 11.1.9). 

The validity of Coulomb s law has been verified also on the nanoscale Zworner et al. [484] showed that, for different carbon compound surfaces, friction does not depend on sliding velocity in the range between 0.1 /xm/s and up to 24 /xm/s. At low speeds, a weak (logarithmic) dependence of friction on speed was observed by Gnecco et al. [485] on a NaCl(lOO) surface and by Bennewitz et al. [486] on a Cu (111) surface. This can be modeled when taking into account thermal activation of the irreversible jumps in atomic stick-slip [487],... 

An atomic force microscope is used to stuviscoelastic state at the temperature of experiment. It is shown that, during the preliminary phase of friction and before the transition to the sliding regime, the contact area remains nearly constant. This allows for a determination of the relaxation and of the complex modulus of the material. A good agreement is found between moduli measured by this method and macroscopically determined ones. The position of the transition is seen to scale with the characteristic size of the contact area but it does not depend on the displacement velocity. Finally, a transient stick-slip regime is observed before the sliding steady state is reached. 

A. Socoliuc, R. Bennewitz, E. Gnecco, E. Meyer, Transition from stick-slip to continuous sliding in atomic friction entering a new regime of ultralow friction. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92(13), 134301 (2004)... 

From the fact that Eq. (9.40) can have solutions only for values of C > 1, it follows that for sufficiently stiff springs, the stick-slip motion should disappear. Naively, one might expect that by using stiffer AFM cantilevers, ultralow atomic friction without stick-slip and thus without dissipation should be achievable. However, the effective... 

The availability of new experimental methods at the end of the 1980s such as friction force microscopy allowed us to study friction on the atomic scale and created the new field of nanotribology. The observed wearless friction on this scale can be understood using the model of Tomlinson where the plucking action of one atom on to the other leads to energy dissipation during stick-slip processes. 

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