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Towards a statistical theory of solid dry friction

A. Volmer·T. Nattermann
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Abstract

Wearless dry friction of an elastic block of weight N, driven by an external force F over a rigid substrate, is investigated. The slider and substrate surfaces are both microscopically rough, interacting via a repulsive potential that depends on the local overlap. The model reproduces Amontons's laws which state that the friction force is proportional to the normal loading force N and independent of the nominal surface area. In this model, the dynamic friction force decays for large velocities and approaches a finite static friction for small velocities if the surface profiles are self-affine on small length scales.

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A. Volmer, T. Nattermann. 1997-11-18. Towards a statistical theory of solid dry friction. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002570050462

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