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Friction 2023, 11(6): 966-976 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-022-0636-3
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 28 July 2022

Phononic origin of structural lubrication

Show Author's Information Yun DONG1,†,  Yongkang WANG1,†,  Zaoqi DUAN1,†,  Shuyu HUANG1,  Yi TAO1,  Xi LU1,  Yan ZHANG1,  Yajing KAN1,  Zhiyong WEI1( ),  Deyu LI2( ),  Yunfei CHEN1( )
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Design and Manufacture of Micro-Nano Biomedical Instruments, School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville 37235-1592, USA

† Yun DONG and Yongkang WANG contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
phononic friction, washboard frequency, structural lubrication, commensurate and incommensurate interfaces
Cite this article:
DONG Y, WANG Y, DUAN Z, et al. Phononic origin of structural lubrication. Friction, 2023, 11(6): 966-976. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-022-0636-3
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Atomistic mechanisms of frictional energy dissipation have attracted significant attention. However, the dynamics of phonon excitation and dissipation remain elusive for many friction processes. Through systematic fast Fourier transform (FFT) analyses of the frictional signals as a silicon tip sliding over a graphite surface at different angles and velocities, we experimentally demonstrate that friction mainly excites non-equilibrium phonons at the washboard frequency and its harmonics. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we further disclose the phononic origin of structural lubrication, i.e., the drastic reduction of friction force as the contact angle between two commensurate surfaces changes. In commensurate contacting states, friction excites a large amount of phonons at the washboard frequency and many orders of its harmonics that perfectly match each other in the sliding tip and substrate, while for incommensurate cases, only limited phonons are generated at mismatched washboard frequencies and few low order harmonics in the tip and substrate.


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About this article

Phononic origin of structural lubrication

Show Author's information Yun DONG1,†, Yongkang WANG1,†, Zaoqi DUAN1,†, Shuyu HUANG1, Yi TAO1, Xi LU1, Yan ZHANG1, Yajing KAN1, Zhiyong WEI1( ), Deyu LI2( ), Yunfei CHEN1( )
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Design and Manufacture of Micro-Nano Biomedical Instruments, School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville 37235-1592, USA

† Yun DONG and Yongkang WANG contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Atomistic mechanisms of frictional energy dissipation have attracted significant attention. However, the dynamics of phonon excitation and dissipation remain elusive for many friction processes. Through systematic fast Fourier transform (FFT) analyses of the frictional signals as a silicon tip sliding over a graphite surface at different angles and velocities, we experimentally demonstrate that friction mainly excites non-equilibrium phonons at the washboard frequency and its harmonics. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we further disclose the phononic origin of structural lubrication, i.e., the drastic reduction of friction force as the contact angle between two commensurate surfaces changes. In commensurate contacting states, friction excites a large amount of phonons at the washboard frequency and many orders of its harmonics that perfectly match each other in the sliding tip and substrate, while for incommensurate cases, only limited phonons are generated at mismatched washboard frequencies and few low order harmonics in the tip and substrate.

Keywords: phononic friction, washboard frequency, structural lubrication, commensurate and incommensurate interfaces

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Publication history

Received: 08 January 2022
Revised: 24 February 2021
Accepted: 15 April 2022
Published: 28 July 2022
Issue date: June 2023

Copyright

© The author(s) 2022.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52035003, 52065037, 51575104, and 52175161), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2021MD703810), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Gansu Academy of Sciences (Grant No. BSH202101), and the Southeast University "Zhongying Young Scholars" Project for financial support.

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