English

Rubber friction on wet and dry road surfaces: the sealing effect

Materials Science 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

Rubber friction on wet rough substrates at low velocities is typically 20-30% smaller than for the corresponding dry surfaces. We show that this cannot be due to hydrodynamics and propose a novel explanation based on a sealing effect exerted by rubber on substrate "pools" filled with water. Water effectively smoothens the substrate, reducing the major friction contribution due to induced viscoelastic deformations of the rubber by surface asperities. The theory is illustrated with applications related to tire-road friction.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0502495,
  title  = {Rubber friction on wet and dry road surfaces: the sealing effect},
  author = {B. N. J. Persson and U. Tartaglino and O. Albohr and E. Tosatti},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0502495},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

Format Revtex 4; 8 pages, 11 figures (no color); Published on Phys. Rev. B (http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v71/e035428); previous work on the same topic: cond-mat/0412045