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Effect of Surface Grooves on the Static Friction of an Elastic Slider

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Abstract

Numerous studies have proved the usefulness of surface patterning for the modification of tribological performances of sliding contacts. Here, we investigate the effects of patterning on the tribological properties of a slider over a solid substrate. We show that, depending on the numerical density of surface grooves, the tribological properties can change significantly. A low density of surface patterning leads to a decrease of static friction force, while a higher density weakens this effect. Contrary to static friction, kinetic friction shows a much weaker dependence on surface patterning. The decrease is related to a non-uniform distribution of surface stress induced by patterning. We believe these findings and approach to be relevant for technological applications and related optimal design.

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Acknowledgments

RC is supported by Sinergia Contract CRSII2136287/1, and by ERC Advanced Grant 320796—MODPHYSFRICT. This work is also supported by the COST Action MP1303. “Understanding and Controlling Nano and Mesoscale Friction”. NMP is supported by the European Research Council (ERC StG Ideas 2011 BIHSNAM n. 279985 on “Bio-Inspired hierarchical super-nanomaterials”, ERC PoC 2013-1 REPLICA2 n. 619448 on “Large-area replication of biological anti-adhesive nanosurfaces”, ERC PoC 2013-2 KNOTOUGH n. 632277 on “Super-tough knotted fibres”), by the European Commission under the Graphene Flagship (WP10 “Nanocomposites”, n. 604391) and by the Provincia Autonoma di Trento (“Graphene Nanocomposites”, n. S116/2012-242637 and reg.delib. n. 2266.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, Italy

    R. Capozza

  2. Laboratory of Bio-Inspired and Graphene Nanomechanics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano, 77, 38123, Trento, Italy

    Nicola Pugno

  3. Center for Materials and Microsystems, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via Sommarive 18, 38123, Povo, Trento, Italy

    Nicola Pugno

  4. School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK

    Nicola Pugno

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Correspondence to R. Capozza.

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Capozza, R., Pugno, N. Effect of Surface Grooves on the Static Friction of an Elastic Slider. Tribol Lett 58, 35 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-015-0510-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-015-0510-9

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