Related papers: Does Rotational Melting Make Molecular Crystal Sur…
We propose a two-stage mechanism for the rotational surface disordering phase transition of a molecular crystal, as realized in C$_{60}$ fullerite. Our study, based on Monte Carlo simulations, uncovers the existence of a new intermediate…
The origin of ice slipperiness has been a matter of great controversy for more than a century, but an atomistic understanding of ice friction is still lacking. Here, we perform computer simulations of an atomically smooth substrate sliding…
The increase of sliding friction upon increasing load is a classic in the macroscopic world. Here we discuss the possibility that friction rise might sometimes turn into a drop when, at the mesoscale and nanoscale, a confined lubricant film…
The sliding of three-dimensional clusters and two-dimensional islands adsorbed on crystal surfaces represent an important test case to understand friction. Even for the same material, monoatomic islands and thick clusters will not as a rule…
Superlubricity, or alternatively termed structural (super)lubrictiy, is a concept where ultra-low friction is expected at the interface between sliding surfaces if these surfaces are incommensurate and thus unable to interlock. In this…
The physics of sliding nanofriction at high temperature near the substrate melting point $\Tmelt$ is so far unexplored. We conducted simulations of hard tips sliding on a prototype non-melting surface, NaCl(100), revealing in this regime…
We performed molecular dynamics (MD) experiments to explore dry sliding friction at the nanoscale. We used the setup comprised of a spherical particle built up of 32,000 aluminium atoms, resting on a semi-space with a free surface, modelled…
We present a study of sliding friction for rigid triangular steel sliders on soft rubber substrates under both lubricated and dry conditions. For rubber surfaces lubricated with a thin film of silicone oil, the measured sliding friction at…
The structure and motion of carbon and h-BN nanotubes (NTs) deposited on graphene is inquired theoretically by simulations based on state-of-the-art interatomic force fields. Results show that any typical cylinder-over-surface approximation…
In recent years, certain molecular crystals have been reported to possess surprising flexibility by undergoing significant elastic or plastic deformation in response to mechanical loads. However, despite this experimental evidence, there…
The motion of a cylindrical crystalline nanoparticle sandwiched between two crystalline planes, one stationary and the other pulled at a constant velocity and pressed down by a normal load, is considered theoretically using a planar model.…
The inertial sliding of physisorbed submonolayer islands on crystal surfaces contains unexpected information on the exceptionally incommensurate smooth sliding state associated with superlubricity and on the mechanisms of its disappearance.…
Alkali halide (100) crystal surfaces are poorly wetted by their own melt at the triple point. We carried out simulations for NaCl(100) within the well tested BMHFT model potential. Calculations of the solid-vapor, solid-liquid and…
Rolling lubrication with spherical molecules working as 'nanobearings' has failed experimentally so far, without a full understanding of the physics involved and of the reasons why. Past model simulations and common sense have shown that…
We present a computational study of sliding between gold clusters and a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite substrate, a material system that exhibits ultra-low friction due to structural lubricity. By means of molecular dynamics, it is…
We have studied, using molecular dynamics simulations, the pressure-induced melting in a monolayer of soft repulsive spherocylinders whose centers of mass are constrained to move on the surface of a sphere. We show that the orientational…
Nanomechanical devices can operate at much higher speeds than their macroscopic analogues, due to low inertia. For example, peak speeds >100m/s have been predicted for carbon nanotube devices. This stimulates our interest in the…
We study the sliding friction for viscoelastic solids, e.g., rubber, on hard flat substrate surfaces. We consider first the fluctuating shear stress inside a viscoelastic solid which results from the thermal motion of the atoms or molecules…
Using molecular dynamics (MD) we study the dependency of the contact mechanics on the sliding speed when an elastically soft slab (block) is sliding on a rigid substrate with a ${\rm sin} (q_0 x)$ surface height profile. The atoms on the…
Solids at incommensurate contact display low-friction, 'superlubric', sliding. For graphene flakes on a graphite surface, superlubric sliding is only temporary due to rotation of the flakes from incommensurate to commensurate contact with…