Multiscale simulation of three-dimensional thin-film lubrication

Abstract

For three-dimensional mono-layer molecularly thin-film lubrication, it is found that elasticity of the substrate affects tribological behaviors of a thin fluid film confined by two solid substrates.To account for the elastic effects, a multiscale method that combines an atomistic description of the near region with a coarse-grained description of the far region of the solid substrate is developed to simulate the thin-film lubrication. It is shown that in a range of temperature and film-substrate coupling strength, the multiscale method yields results in excellently agreement with those obtained from the fully atomistic simulation. It reveals that the elastic response of substrate can be effectively rendered in the hybrid scheme. In the application of the multiscale method to investigate tribological properties of the multi-layer molecularly thin-film lubrication, it is found that the systematic static friction coefficient monotonously decreases as the molecular layer thickness in the fluid film increases. In comparison with the mono-layer molecularly thin-film lubrication, the multi-layer molecularly thin-film lubrication plays a role in reducing friction and wear of the system.