Energy dissipation in atomic-scale friction

The mechanisms of energy dissipation are discussed in this paper by reviewing the models and research in atomic-scale friction. The study is undertaken to answer a fundamental question in the study of friction: How is frictional work dissipated, particularly in cases where material damage and wear are not involved. The initiation of energy dissipation, the role of structural commensurability, and the estimation of the interfacial shear strength have been examined in detail by introducing the Tomlinson model, the Frenkel– Kontorova model, and the cobblestone model, respectively. The discussion is extended to energy dissipation progress described in terms of phononic and electronic damping. The contributions from other mechanisms of dissipation such as viscoelastic relaxation and material wear are also included. As an example, we analyzed a specific process of dissipation in multilayer graphene, on the basis of results of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, which reveal a reversible part of energy that circulates between the system and the external driver. This leads us to emphasize that it is crucial in future studies to clearly define the coefficient of dissipation.