Noncontact friction via capillary shear interaction at nanoscale

Nature Communications 6, Article number: 7359, 2015

Manhee Lee, Bongsu Kim, Jongwoo Kim & Wonho Jhe

Abstract:
Friction in an ambient condition involves highly nonlinear interactions of capillary force, induced by the capillary-condensed water nanobridges between contact or noncontact asperities of two sliding surfaces. Since the real contact area of sliding solids is much smaller than the apparent contact area, the nanobridges formed on the distant asperities can contribute significantly to the overall friction. Therefore, it is essential to understand how the water nanobridges mediate the