No Arabic abstract
We report microscale friction experiments for diamond/metal and diamond/silica contacts under gigapascal contact pressures. Using a new nanoprobe technique which has sufficient dynamic range of force and stiffness, we demonstrate the processes involved in the transition from purely interface sliding at the nanoscale to the situation where at least one of the sliding bodies undergoes some plastic deformation. For sliding of micrometer-scale diamond spherical tips on metallic substrates, additional local plastic yielding of the substrate resulting from tangential tractions causes the tip to sink into the surface, increasing the contact area in the direction of loading and resulting in a static friction coefficient higher than the kinetic during ploughing. This sink-in is largely absent in fused silica, and no friction drop is observed, along with lower friction in general. The transition from sinking in within the static friction regime to ploughing in the sliding friction regime is mediated by failure of the contact interface, indicated by a sharp increase in energy dissipation. At lower contact pressures, the elastic interfacial sliding behaviour characteristic of scanning probe or surface force apparatus experiments is recovered, bridging the gap between the exotic realm of nanotribology and plasticity dominated macroscale friction. We delineate the material and geometric factors which determine the transition. We also find that some unexpected light is cast on the origins of the difference between static and dynamic friction.
Recently, halide perovskites have gained significant attention from the perspective of efficient spintronics owing to Rashba effect. This effect occurs as a consequence of strong spin-orbit coupling under noncentrosymmetric environment, which can be dynamic and/or static. However, there exist intense debates on the origin of broken inversion symmetry since the halide perovskites typically crystallize into a centrosymmetric structure. In order to clarify the issue, we examine both dynamic and static effects in the all-inorganic CsPbBr3 and organic-inorganic CH3NH3PbBr3 (MAPbBr3) perovskite single crystals by employing temperature- and polarization-dependent photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy. The perovskite single crystals manifest the dynamic effect by photon recycling in the indirect Rashba gap, causing dual peaks in the photoluminescence. But the effect vanishes in CsPbBr3 at low temperatures (< 50 K), accompanied by a striking color change of the crystal, arising presumably from lower degrees of freedom for inversion symmetry breaking associated with the thermal motion of the spherical Cs cation, compared with the polar MA cation in MAPbBr3. We also show that static Rashba effect occurs only in MAPbBr3 below 90 K due to surface reconstruction via MA-cation ordering, which likely extends across a few layers from the crystal surface to the interior. We further demonstrate that this static Rashba effect can be completely suppressed upon surface treatment with poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) coating. We believe that our results provide a rationale for the Rashba effects in halide perovskites.
In this work, we investigate dissipative effects involved during the detachment of a smooth spherical glass probe from a viscoelastic silicone substrate patterned with micro-asperities. As a baseline, the pull-off of a single asperity, millimeter-sized contact between a glass lens and a smooth poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) rubber is first investigated as a function of the imposed detachment velocity. From a measurement of the contact radius a(t) and normal load during unloading, the dependence of the strain energy relase rate G on the velocity of the contact line vc = da/dt is determined under the assumption that viscoelastic dissipation is localized at the edge of the contact. These data are incorporated into Mullers model (V.M. Muller J Adh Sci Tech (1999) 13 999-1016) in order to predict the time-dependence of the contact size. Similar pull-off experiments are carried out with the same PDMS substrate patterned with spherical micro-asperities with a prescribed height distribution. From in situ optical measurements of the micro-contacts, scaling laws are identified for the contact radius a and the contact line velocity vc. On the basis of the observed similarity between macro and microscale contacts, a numerical solution is developed to predict the reduction of the contact radius during unloading.
Tribological phenomena are governed by combined effects of material properties, topology and surface-chemistry. We study the interplay of multiscale surface structures with molecular-scale interactions towards interpreting static frictional interactions at fractal interfaces. By spline-assisted-discretization we analyse asperity interactions in pairs of contacting fractal surface-profiles. For elastically deforming asperities, force analysis reveals greater friction at surfaces exhibiting higher fractality, with increasing molecular-scale friction amplifying this trend. Increasing adhesive strength yields higher overall friction at surfaces of lower fractality owing to greater true-contact-area. In systems where adhesive-type interactions play an important role, such as those where cold-welded junctions form, friction is minimised at an intermediate value of surface profile fractality found to be around 1.3 to 1.5. Results have implications for systems exhibiting evolving surface structures.
3D printing technologies are currently enabling the fabrication of objects with complex architectures and tailored properties. In such framework, the production of 3D optical structures, which are typically based on optical transparent matrices, optionally doped with active molecular compounds and nanoparticles, is still limited by the poor uniformity of the printed structures. Both bulk inhomogeneities and surface roughness of the printed structures can negatively affect the propagation of light in 3D printed optical components. Here we investigate photopolymerization-based printing processes by laser confocal microscopy. The experimental method we developed allows the printing process to be investigated in-situ, with microscale spatial resolution, and in real-time. The modelling of the photo-polymerization kinetics allows the different polymerization regimes to be investigated and the influence of process variables to be rationalized. In addition, the origin of the factors limiting light propagation in printed materials are rationalized, with the aim of envisaging effective experimental strategies to improve optical properties of printed materials.
The friction of a nanosized sphere in commensurate contact with a flat substrate is investigated by performing molecular dynamics simulations. Particular focus is on the distribution of shear stress within the contact region. It is noticed that within the slip zone, the local friction coefficient defined by the ratio of shear stress to normal pressure declines monotonically as the distance to contact center increases. With the lateral force increasing, the slip zone expands inwards from the contact edge. At the same time, the local friction coefficient at the contact edge decreases continuously, while at the dividing between the slip and stick zones keeps nearly invariant. These characteristics are distinctly different from the prediction of the conventional Cattaneo-Mindlin model assuming a constant local friction coefficient within the slip zone. An analytical model is advanced in view of such new features and generalized based on numerous atomic simulations. This model not only accurately characterizes the interfacial shear stress, but also explains the size-dependence of static friction of single nanosized asperity.