A. Buldum et S. Ciraci, INTERPLAY BETWEEN STICK-SLIP MOTION AND STRUCTURAL PHASE-TRANSITIONS IN DRY SLIDING FRICTION, Physical review. B, Condensed matter, 55(19), 1997, pp. 12892-12895
Simulations of dry sliding friction between a metal asperity and an in
commensurate metal surface reveal unusual atomic processes. The latera
l force exhibits a quasiperiodic variation with the displacement of an
asperity; each period consists of two different stick-slip processes
involving structural transitions. While one layer of asperity changes
and matches the substrate lattice in the first slip, two asperity lave
rs merge into a new one through a structural transition during the sec
ond slip. This leads to wear. The lateral force decreases abruptly dur
ing these slip stages, but it increases between two consecutive slips
and resists the relative motion. The analysis of the order suggests th
at each structural transition is associated with a first-order phase t
ransition. Nonadiabatic atomic rearrangements during these phase trans
itions involve a new kind of mechanism of energy dissipation in the dr
y sliding friction.