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Experimental Observations of Superlubricity and Thermolubricity

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Fundamentals of Friction and Wear on the Nanoscale

Part of the book series: NanoScience and Technology ((NANO))

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Abstract

The chapter introduces and discusses nanoscale effects called superlubricity and thermolubricity. Superlubricity is the phenomenon in which two surfaces slide over each other in dry contact without the atomic-scale instabilities. Superlubricity can reduce friction forces by orders of magnitude. Thermolubricity is the effect that thermal excitations significantly assist the contact between two bodies in overcoming the energy barriers against sliding, resulting in a reduction of the friction forces of contacts that are not superlubric.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to a large number of people for their valuable contributions to the work reviewed in this chapter. In particular we mention J.A. Heimberg for the design and construction of the friction force microscope, K.B. Jinesh and N. Pradeep for performing part of the experiments and analysis, S. Yu. Krylov for setting up the theory of thermolubricity and G.S. Verhoeven and H. Valk for numerical calculations of superlubricity and thermolubricity. The work presented in Sects. 8.2.1 and 8.3.2 is part of the research program of the “Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM)” and was made possible by financial support of the “Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO)”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Applied Materials—Reliability of Systems and Components, Microtribology Center μTC, Kaiserstr. 12, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Martin Dienwiebel

  2. Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory, Leiden University, Im Schlehert 32, P.O. Box 9504, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Joost W. M. Frenken

  3. Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography, Science Park 104, 1098 XG, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Joost W. M. Frenken

Authors
  1. Martin Dienwiebel
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  2. Joost W. M. Frenken
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Correspondence to Martin Dienwiebel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia, Madrid, Spain

    Enrico Gnecco

  2. University of Basel Department of Physics, Basel, Switzerland

    Ernst Meyer

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Dienwiebel, M., Frenken, J.W.M. (2015). Experimental Observations of Superlubricity and Thermolubricity. In: Gnecco, E., Meyer, E. (eds) Fundamentals of Friction and Wear on the Nanoscale. NanoScience and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10560-4_8

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