CHAPTER 4

FRICTION

1
 Contents
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Solid-Solid contact
4.3 Basic Characteristics of Friction
4.3.1 Laws of friction
4.3.2 Factors affecting friction
4.3.3 Basic mechanisms of friction /Friction theory
4.4 Sliding Friction
4.4.1 Effect of sliding on solid-solid contact

4.4.2 Friction transitions during sliding 2

 4.1 Introduction
• Adhesion (bonding) is the phenomenon that occurs
when two surfaces are pressed together, either a pure
normal force (load) under combined normal and
shear forces.
• Cohesion represents the atomic bonding forces
associated within the material.
• For two solid surfaces in contact, the interfacial
bond may be stronger than the cohesive force in the
cohesively weaker of the two materials.
• Adhesion can be either desirable or undesirable. In
many engineering applications such as sliding and
rotating machinery, adhesion is undesirable. 3
• Friction is the resistance to motion during sliding or
rolling or flow of fluid. The resistive tangential force,
which acts in a direction directly opposite to the
direction of motion, is called the friction force. Fig-4-1
• The friction between two relative moving solid surfaces
only related to the interaction of the contact surfaces is
called the external friction.
• In boundary lubrication, the friction occurring on the
adsorption film or other films is considered external
friction. However, the friction induced by the relative
movement of fluid molecules is known as the internal
friction.
• Friction forces can be either good or bad. Friction
creates heat, promotes wear, and wastes power, so the
reduction of friction, by any means, is vital.
• Friction is not a material property, it is a system
response. 4
Fig. 4-1 Examples of static friction being higher than
dynamic friction 5
 4.2 Solid -Solid Contact
• Surface roughness limits the contact area of solid
surfaces. Fig-4-2
Factors affecting solid-solid contact
a) Normal load: True area of contact is linearly
proportional to the applied normal load
b)Roughness: True contact area is distributed between a
number of micro contact areas and depends on the
applied load.
c) Material properties: Materials with higher modulus of
elasticity and/or hardness and lack of ductility exhibits
lower area of contact, which leads to lower adhesion.
• Contact stresses between asperities are large due to
real contact area Fig-4-3
6
Fig. 4-2 Real contact area of rough surfaces in contact
7
Fig. 4-3 Contact stresses between asperities
8
 4.3 Basic Characteristics of Friction
• Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) first proposed the
concept of friction (The Father of Tribology)
• Later, Amontons (1663-1705), also carried out a
series of experiments and established the friction
laws.
• John Theophilius Desanguliers (1683-1744),
Leonard Euler (1707-1783)
• Subsequently, Coulomb (1736-1806), based on his
further experiments, developed Amontons’ work and
derived three classical friction laws as follows.

9
 4.3.1 Laws of friction
• Law 1: The frictional force is proportional to the load.
Its mathematical expression is
FαW F = µW
where F - the frictional force; μ - the friction
coefficient; W- the normal load.
– is often called the Coulomb’s law, and it can be considered as
the definition of the friction coefficient.
– Exception-the first law is generally suitable only for materials
having a yield limit, such as metal.
• Law 2: The friction coefficient is not related to the
apparent contact area.
– Exception-Friction is not independent of the apparent area of
contact (extremely clean and highly polished surfaces). 10
• Law 3: The friction coefficient is not related to the
sliding velocity.
– Exception:- very low speeds (increases) and very high
speeds (decreases).

11
 4.3.2. Factors affecting friction
I. Stationary contact time
• Fig-4-5, the static friction coefficient increases with
increase in contact time.
• Under the action of the normal load, the actual
contact area of a friction surface increases because
the roughness embedded in each other produces a
high contact stress to induce the plastic deformation.
With increase of the stationary contact time, the
embedding depth and the plastic deformation
increase such that the static friction coefficient also
increases.
12
Fig-4-5 Relationship between the static friction coefficient and contact time.
13
 II Jerking Motion
• The sophisticated experiments have shown that a dry
sliding friction movement is not continuous, but
intermittent. Such a phenomenon is known as the
jerking motion.
• The jerking motion is a typical phenomenon of the
dry friction, different from the well-lubricated case.
• A more satisfactory explanation of the jerking
motion includes two aspects:-
– a) the motion is the result that, with increase of frictional
force, sliding velocity decreases.
– b)the extension of the contact time is the reason of the
jerking motion. Actually, both effects cause the motion. 14
 III. Pre-Displacement
• If the tangential force is less than the static frictional force, the
object does not move apparently but only produces a very
small pre-displacement to a new stationary position.
• The pre-displacement increases with increase of the tangential
force, and the maximum pre-displacement just before sliding
is called the limit pre-displacement.
• The tangential force corresponding to the limit pre-
displacement is the maximum static frictional force.
• Fig-4-6, lists the pre-displacement curves of several metallic
materials.
• From the figure we can see that only at the very beginning the
pre-displacement is proportional to the tangential force. As it
tends to the limit pre-displacement, the pre-displacements
grow sharply to the limit, but the friction coefficient hardly
increases. 15
Fig-4-6 Pre-displacement curves vs friction coefficient.
16
• The pre-displacement is partially reversible. That is,
after the tangential force is removed, the
displacement tends to disappear but not all. Fig-4-7,
The greater the tangential force, the greater the
residual pre-displacement.
– Fig-4-7, when we apply a tangential force, the point
moves along OlP to P, having the pre-displacement OQ.
– When the tangential force is removed, the point moves
along PmS to S, and the corresponding residual pre-
displacement is OS. If the same tangential force is re-
applied, the object will move to P again, but along SnP.

17
Fig-4-7 Partially reversible pre-displacement.
18
 4.3.3. Basic mechanisms of friction/ Friction theory
1. Mechanical Engagement Theory
• The early friction theory thought that friction originates from surface
roughness. The sliding friction energy is lost in roughness
engagement, collision and plastical deformation,
• As shown in the figure below, is the simplest friction model by
Amontons (1699). He proposed that frictional force is equal to:

F = ∑ ∆F = tan ϕ ∑ ∆W = fW

– where f is the friction coefficient,

– f = tan ϕ to be determined by the surface conditions.

19
2. Adhesive Friction Theory
• Bowden et al. (1945), established a more acceptable
theory, the adhesive friction theory and summarized as
follows:-
a) Friction surfaces in plastic contact
• Because the actual contact area is only a small fraction
of the apparent contact area, the stress on the contact
points reaches the yield stress σ s to produce the plastic
deformation. And, because the stress no longer
increases, the contact area has to expand to support the
load. Fig-4-8
• As the stress on the contact point is equal to the soft
material yield stress σ s if the actual contact area is A,
then we have W = Aσ s or A = W
σs 20
Fig-4-8 Plastic contact on the contact point.

21
 b) Sliding friction changes alternatively between
the adhesion and the jerking motion
• Because the contact point of the metal is in the
plastic contact, it may transiently produce a high
temperature to cause adhesion of the two metal
surfaces.
• The adhesive node has a strong adhesion force.
Subsequently, under the action of the frictional
force, the adhesive points are sheared away to slide
relatively. The sliding and the adhesion change
alternatively to form the whole friction process. Fig-
4-9
22
Fig-4-9 Schematic diagram of two rough surfaces in a
sliding contact 23
 c) Frictional force is the sum of the resistances
of the adhesion effect and the plowing effect
• Fig-4-11 is the frictional force model composed of
the adhesion effect and plowing effect.
• The rough peak on the hard surface embeds into the
soft surface under the normal load W.
• Suppose that the peak shape is a semi-cylinder; the
contact area consists of two parts.
– One is the cylindrical bottom surface, which is the
adhesive effect area where the shear takes place during
sliding.
– The other is the cylindrical front end, which is the
plowing effect area. During sliding, the soft material is
pushed forward and to the side by the hard peak
(cylinder). 24
Therefore, the frictional force F :-
F = T + Pe = Aτ b + Spe
– where T is the shear force, T = Aτ
b
– Pe is the plowing force, Pe = Spe
– A is the adhesive area;
– τ b is the shear strength;
– S is the plowing area;
– pe is the force per unit plowing area.
• The experimental results show that τ b is related to the
sliding velocity and the lubrication conditions and it is
very close to the limit shear strength of the soft
material. This shows that the shearing of the adhesive
node usually occurs inside the soft material, causing the
material to migrate.
25
• For the metal friction pairs, Pe is usually much
smaller than T. The adhesion friction theory believes
that the adhesion effect is the main reason to
produce the frictional force. If we ignore the
plowing effect,
F = T + Pe = Aτ b + Spe

F = Aτ b

• Therefore, the friction coefficient is equal to

F τb
µ= =
W σs
26
Fig-4-11 Frictional force of adhesion and plowing effects.
27
3 Revised Adhesion Friction Theory
• For example, for the most metallic materials, the
relationship of the shear strength and the yield stress
is τ b = 0.2σ s Then, the calculated friction coefficient
f=0.2.
• In fact, the friction coefficient of the most metal
friction pairs is up to 0.5 in the air, and even higher
in the vacuum.
• Therefore, Bowden et al. proposed some
amendments to the simple adhesion friction theory.

28
• According to the general laws of the strength theory,
the form of equivalent stress can be assumed as
follows:
σ 2 + ατ 2 = k 2
– where α is the constant to be determined, α > 1;
– k is the equivalent stress.
• α and k can be determined according to the
extreme conditions.
– First extreme condition isτ = 0 namely, the static friction
state. At this point, the equivalent stress is equal:-
2 2
2 2
W  F 
σ + ατ = σ s ;  W  + α  F  = σ s 2 ;
2 2 2 2

A =   + α  

 A  A σs  σs 
29
 – Second extreme condition is to make the tangential force
F increase continuously. From Equation above, we know
that the actual contact area A increases correspondingly.

2 2
W  F
• As per the equation above (  A  A
), compared with
  +α  = σ s
2

F/A,W/A is very small and can be ignored.

ατ b = σ s ;
2 2
α = σ s /τ b2 2

• Because most metals meet with the condition τ b = 0.2σ s,

by using Equation above, we have α = 25. Experiments
show α < 25 , and Bowden et al. took α = 9
• Therefore, the contact area increases significantly so
that the friction coefficient obtained by the revised
theory is much larger than that of the simple adhesion
theory (it is close to the reality) 30
 4.4. Sliding Friction
4.4.1 Effect of sliding on contact between solid
surfaces
• The transition from static contact to sliding contact
has been obtained from studies of hard asperities
indenting a soft material
• Contact between asperities is basically affected by
sliding and a prime effect of sliding is to cause the
separation of surfaces by a small distance Figure 4-13

• Thus, a real contact is then confined to a much

smaller number of asperities than under stationary
conditions. Figure 4-14
31
Fig. 4-13 Schematic illustration of the transition from
static contact to sliding contact for a hard
asperity on a soft surface
32
Fig. 4-14 Reduction in asperity contact under sliding as
compared to static conditions. 33
4.4.2 Friction transitions during sliding
Figure 4-15 illustrates coefficient of friction as a
function of sliding distance with a typical S-shaped
curve showing run-in period.
During run-in, for example, high asperities may be knocked off,
surface may met better, initial surface films may be worn, new
steady films may be formed, or structural changes may occur.
(friction going up or coming down)
The run-in period is critical for long interface life as incorrect run-
in can result in serious damage and early failure.
After some period, the so called ‘run-in’, ‘breaking-in’ or ‘wearing
in’ period, the friction force generally stabilizes into what is called
steady-state sliding.
Typically after sliding for a period of time, friction increases again
and reached another plateau as shown by the S shaped curve
34
After the steady-state period, changes in the interface may
further occur, such as roughening and trapped particles- lead to
an increase in friction to another plateau, a steady-state period.
The shape of friction curves can be affected by
the interface materials as well as operating
conditions.

35
Fig. 4-15 Coefficient of friction as a function of sliding
distance with typical curve showing run-in period
36
Assignment II
1. What is rolling friction?
2. Define rolling, sliding (slip) and spin.

37
38
39