Critical length limiting super-low friction

Abstract

Since the demonstration of super-low friction (superlubricity) in graphite at nanoscale, one of the main challenges in the field of nano- and micro-mechanics was to scale this phenomenon up. A key question to be addressed is to what extent superlubricity could persist, and what mechanisms could lead to its failure. Here, using an edge-driven Frenkel-Kontorova model, we establish a connection between the critical length above which superlubricity disappears and both intrinsic material properties and experimental parameters. A striking boost in dissipated energy with chain length emerges abruptly due to a high-friction stick-slip mechanism caused by deformation of the slider leading to a local commensuration with the substrate lattice. We derived a parameter-free analytical model for the critical length that is in excellent agreement with our numerical simulations. Our results provide a new perspective on friction and nano-manipulation and can serve as a theoretical basis for designing nano-devices with super-low friction, such as carbon nanotubes.

arXiv commentAccepted on PRL

References in corpus (10)

• Commensurate-incommensurate transition for graphene on hexagonal boron nitride
• Self-retracting motion of graphite micro-flakes: superlubricity in micrometer scale
• Modeling friction: From nanoscale to mesoscale
• Structural lubricity: Role of dimension and symmetry
• Rotational dynamics and friction in double-walled carbon nanotubes
• Systematic Breakdown of Amontons' Law of Friction for an Elastic Object Locally Obeying Amontons' Law
• On the driven Frenkel-Kontorova model: I. Uniform sliding states and dynamical domains of different particle densities
• 1D model of precursors to frictional stick-slip motion allowing for robust comparison with experiments
• Onset of sliding friction in incommensurate systems
• Effect of temperature and velocity on superlubricity

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Superlubricity of Graphene Nanoribbons on Gold Surfaces
• Observation of normal-force-independent superlubricity in mesoscopic graphite contacts
• Solidification and superlubricity with molecular alkane films
• Kinetic Friction of Structurally Superlubric 2D Material Interfaces
• Current trends in the physics of nanoscale friction
• Static friction boost in edge-driven incommensurate contacts
• Moiré-pattern evolution couples rotational and translational friction at crystalline interfaces
• Atomistic mechanism of friction force independence on the normal load and other friction laws for dynamic structural superlubricity
• Effective stick-slip parameter for structurally lubric 2D interface friction
• The impact of static distortion waves on superlubricity
• Sliding states of a soft-colloid cluster crystal: Cluster versus single-particle hopping