7,608 research outputs found
The effect of surface roughness on the adhesion of elastic solids
We study the influence of surface roughness on the adhesion of elastic
solids. Most real surfaces have roughness on many different length scales, and
this fact is taken into account in our analysis. We consider in detail the case
when the surface roughness can be described as a self affine fractal, and show
that when the fractal dimension D_f >2.5, the adhesion force may vanish, or be
at least strongly reduced. We consider the block-substrate pull-off force as a
function of roughness, and find a partial detachment transition preceding a
full detachment one. The theory is in good qualitative agreement with
experimental data.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures. Submitted to J. Chem. Phy
The luminosity function of the brightest galaxies in the IRAS survey
Results from a study of the far infrared properties of the brightest galaxies in the IRAS survey are described. There is a correlation between the infrared luminosity and the infrared to optical luminosity ratio and between the infrared luminosity and the far infrared color temperature in these galaxies. The infrared bright galaxies represent a significant component of extragalactic objects in the local universe, being comparable in space density to the Seyferts, optically identified starburst galaxies, and more numerous than quasars at the same bolometric luminosity. The far infrared luminosity in the local universe is approximately 25% of the starlight output in the same volume
Influence of surface roughness on superhydrophobicity
Superhydrophobic surfaces, with liquid contact angle theta greater than 150
degree, have important practical applications ranging from self-cleaning window
glasses, paints, and fabrics to low-friction surfaces. Many biological
surfaces, such as the lotus leaf, have hierarchically structured surface
roughness which is optimized for superhydrophobicity through natural selection.
Here we present a molecular dynamics study of liquid droplets in contact with
self-affine fractal surfaces. Our results indicate that the contact angle for
nanodroplets depends strongly on the root-mean-square surface roughness
amplitude but is nearly independent of the fractal dimension D_f of the
surface.Comment: 5 Pages, 6 figures. Minimal changes with respect to the previous
versio
Rubber friction on wet and dry road surfaces: the sealing effect
Rubber friction on wet rough substrates at low velocities is typically 20-30%
smaller than for the corresponding dry surfaces. We show that this cannot be
due to hydrodynamics and propose a novel explanation based on a sealing effect
exerted by rubber on substrate "pools" filled with water. Water effectively
smoothens the substrate, reducing the major friction contribution due to
induced viscoelastic deformations of the rubber by surface asperities. The
theory is illustrated with applications related to tire-road friction.Comment: Format Revtex 4; 8 pages, 11 figures (no color); Published on Phys.
Rev. B (http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v71/e035428); previous work on the
same topic: cond-mat/041204
Sealing is at the Origin of Rubber Slipping on Wet Roads
Loss of braking power and rubber skidding on a wet road is still an open
physics problem, since neither the hydrodynamical effects nor the loss of
surface adhesion that are sometimes blamed really manage to explain the 20-30%
observed loss of low speed tire-road friction. Here we advance a novel
mechanism based on sealing of water-filled substrate pools by the rubber. The
sealed-in water effectively smoothens the substrate, thus reducing the
viscoelastic dissipation in bulk rubber induced by surface asperities, well
established as a major friction contribution. Starting with the measured
spectrum of asperities one can calculate the water-smoothened spectrum and from
that the predicted friction reduction, which is of the right magnitude. The
theory is directly supported by fresh tire-asphalt friction data.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Published on Nature Materials (November 7th 2004
Electronic friction and liquid-flow-induced voltage in nanotubes
A recent exciting experiment by Ghosh et al. reported that the flow of an
ion-containing liquid such as water through bundles of single-walled carbon
nanotubes induces a voltage in the nanotubes that grows logarithmically with
the flow velocity v0. We propose an explanation for this observation. Assuming
that the liquid molecules nearest the nanotube form a 2D solid-like monolayer
pinned through the adsorbed ions to the nanotubes, the monolayer sliding will
occur by elastic loading followed by local yield (stick-slip). The drifting
adsorbed ions produce a voltage in the nanotube through electronic friction
against free electrons inside the nanotube. Thermally excited jumps over
force-biased barriers, well-known in stick-slip, can explain the logarithmic
voltage growth with flow velocity. We estimate the short circuit current and
the internal resistance of the nanotube voltage generator.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures; published on PRB
(http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v69/e235410) and on the Virtual Journal of
Nanoscale Science and Technology (http://www.vjnano.org, July 14, 2002, Vol.
10, Iss. 2
Theory of friction: contribution from fluctuating electromagnetic field
We calculate the friction force between two semi-infinite solids in relative
parallel motion (velocity ), and separated by a vacuum gap of width . The
friction force result from coupling via a fluctuating electromagnetic field,
and can be considered as the dissipative part of the van der Waals interaction.
We consider the dependence of the friction force on the temperature , and
present a detailed discussion of the limiting cases of small and large and
.Comment: 15 pages, No figure
Dynamical transitions and sliding friction in the two-dimensional Frenkel-Kontorova model
The nonlinear response of an adsorbed layer on a periodic substrate to an
external force is studied via a two dimensional uniaxial Frenkel-Kontorova
model. The nonequlibrium properties of the model are simulated by Brownian
molecular dynamics. Dynamical phase transitions between pinned solid, sliding
commensurate and incommensurate solids and hysteresis effects are found that
are qualitatively similar to the results for a Lennard-Jones model, thus
demonstrating the universal nature of these features.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Velocity weakening and possibility of aftershocks in nanofriction experiments
We study the frictional behavior of small contacts as those realized in the
atomic force microscope and other experimental setups, in the framework of
generalized Prandtl-Tomlinson models. Particular attention is paid to
mechanisms that generate velocity weakening, namely a decreasing average
friction force with the relative sliding velocity.The mechanisms studied model
the possibility of viscous relaxation, or aging effects in the contact. It is
found that, in addition to producing velocity weakening, these mechanisms can
also produce aftershocks at sufficiently low sliding velocities. This provides
a remarkable analogy at the microscale, of friction properties at the
macroscale, where aftershocks and velocity weakening are two fundamental
features of seismic phenomena.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Transverse thermal depinning and nonlinear sliding friction of an adsorbed monolayer
We study the response of an adsorbed monolayer under a driving force as a
model of sliding friction phenomena between two crystalline surfaces with a
boundary lubrication layer. Using Langevin-dynamics simulation, we determine
the nonlinear response in the direction transverse to a high symmetry direction
along which the layer is already sliding. We find that below a finite
transition temperature, there exist a critical depinning force and hysteresis
effects in the transverse response in the dynamical state when the adlayer is
sliding smoothly along the longitudinal direction.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
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