For the successful development and application of lubricants, a full understanding of the nanoscale behavior of complex tribological systems is required, but this is difficult to obtain experimentally. In this study, we use nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations to examine the atomistic structure and friction properties of commercially relevant organic friction modifier (OFM) monolayers adsorbed on iron oxide surfaces and lubricated by a thin, separating layer of hexadecane. Specifically, acid, amide, and glyceride OFMs, with saturated and Z-unsaturated hydrocarbon tail groups, are simulated at various surface coverages and sliding velocities. At low and medium coverage, the OFMs form liquidlike and amorphous monolayers, respectively, which are significantly interdigitated with the hexadecane lubricant, resulting in relatively high friction coefficients. At high coverage, solidlike monolayers are formed for all of the OFMs, which, during sliding, results in slip planes between well-defined OFM and hexadecane layers, yielding a marked reduction in the friction coefficient. When present at equal surface coverage, OFMs with saturated and Z-unsaturated tail groups are found to yield similar structure and friction behavior. OFMs with glyceride head groups yield significantly lower friction coefficients than amide and particularly carboxylic acid head groups. For all of the OFMs and coverages simulated, the friction coefficient is found to increase linearly with the logarithm of sliding velocity; however, the gradient of this increase depends on the coverage. The structure and friction details obtained from these simulations agree well with experimental results and also shed light on the relative tribological performance of these OFMs through nanoscale structural variations. This has important implications in terms of the applicability of NEMD to aid the development of new formulations to control friction.
This review summarizes recent advances in the area of tribology based on the outcome of a Lorentz Center workshop surveying various physical, chemical and mechanical phenomena across scales. Among the main themes discussed were those of rough surface representations, the breakdown of continuum theories at the nano-and micro-scales, as well as multiscale and multiphysics aspects for analytical and computational models relevant to applications spanning a variety of sectors, from automotive to biotribology and nanotechnology. Significant effort is still required to account for complementary nonlinear effects of plasticity, adhesion, friction, wear, lubrication and surface chemistry in tribological models. For each topic, we propose some research directions.
This paper summarizes the submissions to a recently announced contact-mechanics modeling challenge. The task was to solve a typical, albeit mathematically fully defined problem on the adhesion between nominally flat surfaces. The surface topography of the rough, rigid substrate, the elastic properties of the indenter, as well as the short-range adhesion between indenter and substrate, were specified so that diverse quantities of interest, e.g., the distribution of interfacial stresses at a given load or the mean gap as a function of load, could be computed and compared to a reference solution. Many different solution strategies were pursued, ranging from traditional asperity-based models via Persson theory and brute-force computational approaches, to real-laboratory experiments and all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of a model, in which the original assignment was scaled down to the atomistic scale. While each submission contained satisfying answers for at least a subset of the posed questions, efficiency, versatility, and accuracy differed between methods, the more precise methods being, in general, computationally more complex. The aim of this paper is to provide both theorists and experimentalists with benchmarks to decide which method is the most appropriate for a particular application and to gauge the errors associated with each one
Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations have provided unique insights into the nanoscale behaviour of lubricants under shear. This review discusses the early history of NEMD and its progression from a tool to corroborate theories of the liquid state, to an instrument that can directly evaluate important fluid properties, towards a potential design tool in tribology. The key methodological advances which have allowed this evolution are also highlighted. This is followed by a summary of bulk and confined NEMD simulations of liquid lubricants and lubricant additives, as they have progressed from simple atomic fluids to ever more complex, realistic molecules. The future outlook of NEMD in tribology, including the inclusion of chemical reactivity for additives, and coupling to continuum methods for large systems, is also briefly discussed.
Natural articular cartilage has ultralow friction even at high squeezing pressure. Biomimicking cartilage with soft materials has been and remains a grand challenge in the fields of materials science and engineering. Inspired by the unique structural features of the articular cartilage, as well as by its remarkable lubrication mechanisms dictated by the properties of the superficial layers, a novel archetype of cartilage-mimicking bilayer material by robustly entangling thick hydrophilic polyelectrolyte brushes into the subsurface of a stiff hydrogel substrate is developed. The topmost soft polymer layer provides effective aqueous lubrication, whereas the stiffer hydrogel layer used as a substrate delivers the load-bearing capacity. Their synergy is capable of attaining low friction coefficients (order 0.010) under heavily loaded conditions (order 10 MPa contact pressure) in water environment, a performance incredibly close to that of natural articular cartilage. The bioinspired material can maintain low friction even when subjected to 50k reciprocating cycles under high contact pressure, with almost no wear observed on the sliding track. These findings are theoretically explained and compounded by multiscale simulations used to shed light on the mechanisms responsible for this remarkable performance. This work opens innovative technology routes for developing cartilage-mimicking ultralow friction soft materials.
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