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Free keywords:
Aluminum alloys; Aluminum coated steel; Boundary element method; Lubrication; Sailing vessels; Topography, Direct measurement; Dynamic friction coefficient; Lubricated surfaces; Macroscopic friction; Mechanistic modeling; Quantitative prediction; Random deposition; Real contact area, Friction
Abstract:
We report experimental measurements of friction between an aluminum alloy sliding over steel with various lubricant densities. Using the topography scans of the surfaces as input, we calculate the real contact area using the boundary element method and the dynamic friction coefficient by means of a simple mechanistic model. Partial lubrication of the surfaces is accounted for by a random deposition model of oil droplets. Our approach reproduces the qualitative trends of a decrease of the macroscopic friction coefficient with applied pressure, due to a larger fraction of the micro-contacts being lubricated for larger loads. This approach relates direct measurements of surface topography to realistic distributions of lubricant, suggesting possible model extensions towards quantitative predictions. © 2021, The Author(s).
