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Stick-slip friction and nucleation dynamics of ultra-thin liquid films

I. S. Aranson·L. S. Tsimring·V. M. Vinokur
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Abstract

We develop the theory for stick-slip motion in ultra-thin liquid films confined between two moving atomically-flat surfaces. Our model is based on hydrodynamic equation for the flow coupled to the dynamic order parameter field describing the ``shear melting and freezing'' of the confined fluid. This model successfully accounts for observed phenomenology of friction in ultra-thin films, including periodic and chaotic sequences of slips, transitions from stick-slip motion to steady sliding.

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I. S. Aranson, L. S. Tsimring, V. M. Vinokur. 2001-01-12. Stick-slip friction and nucleation dynamics of ultra-thin liquid films. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.65.125402

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