Robustness of structural superlubricity beyond rigid models

Shizhe FENG; Zhiping XU

doi:10.1007/s40544-021-0548-7

Friction 2022, 10(9): 1382-1392 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-021-0548-7

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Open Access | Issue | Published: 31 January 2022

Robustness of structural superlubricity beyond rigid models

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Shizhe FENG, Zhiping XU(

)

Applied Mechanics Laboratory, Department of Engineering Mechanics and Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Keywords:

crystal plasticity, elastic deformation, molecular dynamics simulations, structural superlubricity, lattice registry, strained solitons

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FENG S, XU Z. Robustness of structural superlubricity beyond rigid models. Friction, 2022, 10(9): 1382-1392. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-021-0548-7

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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Abstract

Structural superlubricity is a theoretical concept stating that the friction force is absent between two rigid, incommensurate crystalline surfaces. However, elasticity of the contact pairs could modify the lattice registry at interfaces by nucleating local slips, favoring commeasure. The validity of structural superlubricity is thus concerned for large-scale systems where the energy cost of elastic distortion to break the lattice registry is low. In this work, we study the size dependence of superlubricity between single-crystal graphite flakes. Molecular dynamics simulations show that with nucleation and propagation of out-of-plane dislocations and strained solitons at Bernal interfaces, the friction force is reduced by one order of magnitude. Elastic distortion is much weaker for non-Bernal or incommensurate ones, remaining notable only at the ends of contact. Lattice self-organization at small twist angles perturbs the state of structural superlubricity through a reconstructed potential energy surface. Theoretical models are developed to illustrate and predict the interfacial elastoplastic behaviors at length scales beyond those in the simulations. These results validate the rigid assumption for graphitic superlubricity systems at microscale, and reveal the intrinsic channels of mechanical energy dissipation. The understandings lay the ground for the design of structural superlubricity applications.

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About this article

Robustness of structural superlubricity beyond rigid models

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Shizhe FENG, Zhiping XU(

)

Applied Mechanics Laboratory, Department of Engineering Mechanics and Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Abstract

Keywords: crystal plasticity, elastic deformation, molecular dynamics simulations, structural superlubricity, lattice registry, strained solitons

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Acknowledgements

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Publication history

Received: 04 June 2021

Revised: 27 July 2021

Accepted: 09 August 2021

Published: 31 January 2022

Issue date: September 2022

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11825203, 11832010, 11921002, and 52090032). The computation was performed on the Explorer 100 cluster system of Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology.

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