What role for contact spots and dislocations in friction and wear?

Sixteen years of research on the properties of 'contact spots' of ductile materials in 'adhesive' wear are surveyed. They are the locations (typically occupying less than 1% of the macroscopic area of contact) at which solids ale in load-bearing contact during wear. Their properties determine the coefficient of friction, and friction and Joule heat are generated at them. It was found that the mechanical behavior of contact spots is governed by ordinary dislocation plasticity. They remain elastic if the local pressure falls short of the indentation hardness of the softer side. In that case (almost) no wear occurs. Elastic contact spots are promoted by light loads and fine polishing. Ordinarily, wear particles are detached through tangential shearing-off where, statistically, the two sides at contact spots momentarily interlock. The Holm-Archard wear 'law' is a simple direct result of this mechanism. However, quite typically the bulk of sliding takes place within adsorbed moisture films which are ubiquitous in our daily surroundings. Outside of contact spots the adsorbed moisture behaves much like ordinary water. At the typical contact spot the moisture is squeezed down to but two monomolecular layers; and the relative motion between sliding solids overwhelmingly takes place between these. This causes the prevalence of friction coefficients about μ 0.3 in our surroundings. The complex behavior of the adsorbed water can cause stick-slip. As water is desorbed at 170 °C, the determination of flash temperatures at contact spots is critical. A corresponding theory was developed and verified in connection with experiments on graphite lubrication which depends on the presence of adsorbed moisture. Further, plastic contact spots and solid lubrication have been simulated by means of a Bridgman anvil apparatus. The results show that the same work-hardening behavior applies at contact spots as known from the bulk. They also proved that at contact spots intimate mixing of the materials of the two sides gives rise to a finely mixed layer which can amorphize by much the same dislocation mechanism as is believed to cause melting. The amorphous material promptly recrystallizes at least in the Cu-Ag system. It is proposed to try and inhibit such recrystallization by selected lubricants, so as to promote beneficial wear-resistant tribo-films.