Friction in a solid lubricant film

Abstract

Molecular dynamics study of a thin (one to five layers) lubricant film between two substrates in moving contact are performed using Langevin equations with an external damping coefficient depending on distance and velocity of atoms relative the substrates, motivated by microscopic configurations. They show that the minimal friction coefficient is obtained for the solid-sliding regime. A detailed analysis of the results, the comparison with other microscopic modeling approaches of friction, and the evaluation of quantities that can be compared to experiments, such as the velocity of the transition from stick-slip to smooth sliding, are used to discuss the relevance of the microscopic simulations of friction.