Friction

Types of friction and Laws

Friction: Resistance to motion when one solid body slides over the
other.
Direction of Friction force opposite to motion
Static friction: Friction force required to start sliding
Kinetic friction: Friction force required to maintain sliding
Kinetic friction < Static friction
Laws of Friction: (Totally empirical & obeyed most of the times)
Amontons laws:
Friction is independent of apparent area of contact of the two
bodies. (Valid for materials having definite yield point)
Force of friction is proportional to the Normal load. (valid only under
lower pressures)
Coulombs law:
Kinetic friction is independent of the speed of sliding.
Coefficient of Friction
W
F
W F
W F
=
=

W
F
W
F
k
k
s
s
=
=

Coefficient of friction can be static or kinetic or rolling coefficient of friction.

Coefficient of friction is for a combination of two materials under a given set of
surface.

r
for steel roller on a steel surface is 0.001.
Factors important for friction:
Shape and contour of the surface.
The way surfaces deform when pressed.
Adhesion of solids

Strength properties at the interface
Surface films and their role
Mechanism of energy loss under deformation
W
F
r
r
=
Basis of Amontons Laws
Begin with following assumptions,
1) During sliding, frictional force per unit area (s) is constant,
Frictional force, F = A s
A is real area of contact
2) Real area of contact (A) is proportional to the normal load W.
A = q W; q is constant of proportionality
Therefore,
3) F = q W s

If assumptions are justified,
equation 1 & 2, state that
Friction force depends upon the real area of contact.
Friction force is independent of the apparent area of contact.
equation 3, state that
Friction force is proportional to normal load.
First assumption states that any part of contact area is statistically
representative of whole area.
Second Assumption is valid,
1. When contact is completely plastic
2. When contacting surfaces have exponential asperity height
distribution
3. When contacting surfaces have a Gaussian Height distribution
Measurement of Friction
Prediction of coefficients of friction is not possible.
Pauli: God made solids, but surfaces are made by Devil.
Best way is to measure the friction.
Basic Methodology:
To place two specimens together under a known normal load.
Slide one specimen w.r.t. the other
Measure the tangential force resisting sliding.
Most common method: Inclined plane test. (static friction)
S
S cos
S sin

u
u
u
tan
cos
sin
= = =
S
S
W
F
At the point of sliding,

For continuous sliding friction,
Force is measured by a dynamometer.
Various configurations are used.
Conforming / non conforming
Flat Pin on disc
Pin stationary, disc rotating
Multiple pass /single pass
Speed of disc drive continuously
changed
Pin on Cylinder
Crossed cylinders
Reciprocating Rig

All measurements should be carried
out in enclosed environment.
Origins of Friction
Interactions between asperities
Each asperity interaction contributes to friction
Total friction is summation of friction at individual contacts
Energy dissipated is summation of energy dissipated at individual
contacts
At any time friction force is almost constant. Why?
Statistical distribution of contact process is almost constant.
Under equilibrium, energy dissipated = F . U [U velocity]

Friction can be explained by two approaches:
By the origins of forces.
By the process of energy dissipation (Adhesion or deformation)


Theories of Friction
1. Simple Adhesion Theory: [Bowden & Tabor (1950)]
1. Under load conditions, surfaces make contact only at the tips of
asperities.
2. Even at low loads, real contact pressures are very high and the
asperity tips of softer material have plastic deformation
3. The plastic deformation results in increase of the total contact area
(growth of individual initial contacts + formation of new contacts), until
the real area of contact is just sufficient to support the load elastically.
4. Thus, W = A p
o

A Actual / real contact area
p
o
yield pressure (stress) of the softer material
As p
o
~ H H hardness in indentation test
W = A. H
5. Due to severe plastic deformation, cold welding takes place at the
asperity contacts i.e. strong adhesive bonds are formed.
6. Friction force, F = A. s and = F/W = s/H
s specific friction force (force required to cause shear failure of unit
area of asperity junction)
Simple Adhesion Theory
Provided first theoretical explanation of Amontons laws.
(Friction Independent of apparent area and proportional to normal load)
Now, if s = k (critical stress)
= k / H.
k/H is almost constant for most materials.
i.e. many material pairs have similar value of (~0.16)
Effect of ploughing (hard asperity making a groove in softer material) is
included by adding
ploughing
to k / H.
Softer material
Hard asperity
Limitations of Simple Adhesion Theory
= k / H, indicates that only depends on properties of softer
material.
This means, a material should have same with any other harder
material. This is not seen.
Normal values of for metal pairs are 0.5 and not 0.16.
For many ductile materials,
much higher (>1 also) when surfaces are free of any contaminant.
No sliding takes place.
Cold welding almost for much of the nominal contact area.
Theory needs modification


Extension of the Simple Theory of Adhesion
Junction Growth:
Consider a 2D stress system,
Assumption: Yielding takes place at
t
max
= k
k is radius of the Mohrs circle,


2 2 2
)
2
( k
p
= +t
p
t
k
Normal stress
Shear stress
2 2 2
4 4 k p = + t
For a single asperity junction,
Area of contact A = W/H
t = t
max
= k
Any increase in Normal stress or shear
stress will cause plastic flow.
Any increase in tangential force (F)
leads to increase in contact area, called
as Junction Growth
Normal & shear stress decrease as
area increases, till t
max
= k, when load is
supported elastically.
F increases further, again junction
growth.
Normal force remains same, but F
continues to rise
Ratio t/ attains very high value.
(Limited by strength of softer material)
Even after removing normal load, strong resistance to shear is observed.
For a 3 D contact, it is assumed that,
p
2
+ ot
2
= r
2
{o & r are constants, obtained from boundary conditions}
1) When tangential force = 0, t = 0 and p = H
r
2
= H
2
and p
2
+ ot
2
= H
2

2) After junction growth, t >> p
ot
2
= H
2
as t ~ k o = H
2
/ k
2

o ~ 9 according to Bowden
o < 9 (Actual)
What is important ?
For large scale junction growth, t >> p.
As t
max
is limited by shear strength of the softer material,
Means, p <<
y
(yield stress)
This is true for assumption of initial elastic contacts also.
Explains very high coefficient of friction for clean materials in
vacuum.

Why is low under normal conditions
1. Junctions formed are weaker in shear than those formed in clean
surfaces.
2. Weakness is due to formation of film.
If, t
s
= c k where, t
s
= shear strength of film, c = constant < 1.
When, frictional stress, F/A < t
s
, junction growth continues.
When, F/A = t
s
, film shearing takes place and sliding occurs.
Condition for sliding:
p
2
+ ot
s
2
= H
2
But, H
2
= o k
2
Therefore, p
2
+ ot
s
2
= o k
2
p
2
+ ot
s
2
= ot
s
2
/ c
2

2 / 1 2
)] 1 ( [ c
c
p
s

= =
o
t

As c 1, infinity
When c is small, = c / o
0.5
, Principle of lubrication
by using soft metal films & bounary lubricants
Variation of against c for different values of o.
Except at large value of c, value of o is not of much importance
Modifications by Johnson and Halling
2 / 1 2
1 2
)] [ c
c
o o

=
Johnson proposed,
If, o
2
- o
1
>1, 1 even if c =1.
As c 1, sliding causes 1.
It is then possible to produce, > 1, not by further junction growth but by
internal shear in the junction.
This can be, by forming a chip or prow with adhesive transfer to
the opposing surface.
Halling suggested that o is not constant and it is a function of c.
o = [2/(1-a
1
)]
2
and = ck/ p = c / [ o(1 - c
2
) ]
1/2
o

= 36 when c = 0 and o infinity when c 1

Important Outcome: Friction coefficient depend on -
1. Interfacial shear strength.
2. Deformation characteristics of the material
Effect of ploughing:

Softer material
Hard conical
asperity
W
i
r


During rubbing, only the front surface
is in contact with the softer surface.
W
i
is supported by horizontal
projection of asperity contact.
W
i
= r
2
H
Frictional force F
i
, is supported by
vertical projection
F
i
= r h H
Hence, = F
i
/ W
i
= 2 h / r
= [2 cot ] /

For most surfaces ploughing component of friction is very small.
h

Theories of Friction
2. Deformation Theories:
First proposed by Green (1955)
Later extended by Edward and Halling (1968).
Takes into account the fact that and t on the asperities vary with life of
junction.
Physical basis of deformation theory:
In sliding of microscopically flat surface,
Motion is parallel to the interface.
Separation of the surfaces remain constant.
This must be so,
To maintain the area of contact at constant level to support constant normal load
Main outcome,
Contacting asperities must deform to allow movement to continue.

]
) 1 (
1 [
]
) 1 (
[
2 / 1 2
2 / 1 2
|
|
o

c
c
c
c

=
function of c and geometry of the junction
= 0, when = 0. ( = semi angle of asperity)
o = constant ~ H
2
/ k
2
c is constant < 1
What happens when = 0?
Variation of Normal force and Friction Force throughout a
junction life, for junction angle 10
0.
Variation of against c for various junction angles
Energy consumed in plastic deformation increases with the
sharpness of asperities.
For elastic deformation of asperities,
Deformation component of friction is zero.
Real area of contact and force for shearing increase with slope of
asperity.
Hence, friction between microscopically smooth surfaces increase
with the mean absolute surface slope.
Interaction of Adhesion and Deformation:
1. Adhesion and deformation theories are not competitive but
complementary
2. Any time, friction will have adhesion + deformation contributions
3. These components of friction are not additive, but interactive.