arXiv subjects

Lukasz Baran

Publications and source records attributed to Lukasz Baran.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Is it possible to overheat ice? The activated melting of TIP4P/Ice at solid-vapor coexistence

A widely accepted phenomenological rule states that solids with free surfaces cannot be overheated. In this work we discuss this statement critically under the light of the statistical thermodynamics of interfacial roughening transitions. Our results show that the basal face of ice as described by the TIP4P/Ice model can remain mechanically stable for more than one hundred nanoseconds when overheated by 1 K, and for several hundreds of nanoseconds at smaller overheating despite the presence of a significant quasi-liquid layer at the surface. Such time scales, which are often of little experimental significance, can become a concern for the determination of melting points by computer simulations using the direct coexistence method. In the light of this observation, we reinterpret computer simulations of ice premelting and show that current results for the TIP4P/Ice model all imply a scenario of incomplete surface melting. Using a thermodynamic integration path, we reassess our own estimates for the Laplace pressure difference between water and vapor. These calculations are used to measure the disjoining pressure of premelting liquid films and allow us to confirm a minimum of the interfacial free energy at finite premelting thickness of about one nanometer.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2024

Confinement enhanced viscosity vs shear thinning in lubricated ice friction

The ice surface is known for presenting a very small kinetic friction coefficient, but the origin of this property remains highly controversial to date. In this work, we revisit recent computer simulations of ice sliding on atomically smooth substrates, using newly calculated bulk viscosities for the TIP4P/Ice water model. The results show that spontaneously formed premelting films in static conditions exhibit an effective viscosity which is about twice the bulk viscosity. However, upon approaching sliding speeds in the order of m/s, the shear rate becomes very large, and the viscosities decrease by several orders of magnitude. This shows that premelting films can act as an efficient lubrication layer despite their small thickness, and illustrates an interesting interplay between confinement enhanced viscosities, and shear thinning. Our results suggest that the strongly thinned viscosities that operate under the high speed skating regime could largely reduce the amount of frictional heating.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Ice friction at the nanoscale

The origin of ice slipperiness has been a matter of great controversy for more than a century, but an atomistic understanding of ice friction is still lacking. Here, we perform computer simulations of an atomically smooth substrate sliding on ice. In a large temperature range between 230 and 266 K, hydrophobic sliders exhibit a premelting layer similar to that found at the ice air interface. On the contrary, hydrophilic sliders show larger premelting and a strong increase of the first adsorption layer. The non equilibrium simulations show that premelting films of barely one nanometer thickness are sufficient to provide a lubricating quasi liquid layer with rheological properties similar to bulk undercooled water. Upon shearing, the films display a pattern consistent with lubricating Couette flow, but the boundary conditions at the wall vary strongly with the substrates interactions. Hydrophobic walls exhibit large slip, while hydrophilic walls obey stick boundary conditions with small negative slip. By compressing ice above atmospheric pressure, the lubricating layer grows continuously, and the rheological properties approach bulk-like behavior. Below 260 K, the equilibrium premelting films decrease significantly. However, a very large slip persists on the hydrophobic walls, while the increased friction on hydrophilic walls is sufficient to melt ice and create a lubrication layer in a few nanoseconds. Our results show the atomic scale frictional behavior of ice is a combination of spontaneous premelting, pressure melting and frictional heating.

physics.app-ph↗