Thermodynamics and kinetics of shear-induced melting of a thin layer of lubricant confined between solids

Using Landau's phenomenological theory of phase transitions, the shear-indu ced melting of a thin layer of substance confined between two crystalline s urfaces is considered. The kinetics of melting and solidification is consid ered for static and alternating loads. The possibility of two consecutive " melting" (solid-to-liquid) transitions is discussed. As a result of the fir st transition, modulation of the microscopic density becomes zero only in t he direction of shear (partial melting) and as a result of the second, it a lso disappears in the normal direction (complete melting). (C) 2001 MAIK "N auka/Interperiodica".