Friction

By
Dr. Amar Patnaik
Associate Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur
Friction
Friction is the resistance to motion that is experienced whenever
one solid body slides over another. The resistive tangential force,
which acts in a direction directly opposite to the direction of motion,
is called the friction force.

There are two main types of friction that are commonly encountered:
dry friction and fluid friction. As its name suggests, dry friction, also
called “Coulomb” friction, describes the tangential component of the
contact force that exists when two dry surfaces move or tend to
move relative to one another.

Fluid friction describes the tangential component of the contact

force that exists between adjacent layers in a fluid that are moving
at different velocities relative to each other as in a liquid or gas

between bearing surfaces.

Solid–Solid Contact
Rules of Sliding Friction
 First law states that the friction is independent of the
apparent area of contact between the contacting bodies.
 Second law states that the friction force is proportional to
the normal load between the contacting bodies.
 Third law states that the kinetic friction is nearly
independent of the speed of sliding.
 Causes of Friction  When two surfaces are
loaded together they can
adhere over some part of the
contact and this adhesion is
therefore one form of surface
interaction causing friction.
Asperity interlocking - motion cannot  If no adhesion takes place
take place without deformation of the then the only alternative
asperities interaction which results in a
resistance to motion is one in
which material must be
deformed and displaced to
accommodate the relative
Macro displacement here a hard sphere motion.
A loaded against a softer B causes
 We can consider two types
displacement of material B during
motion. of interaction
Concept of adhesion
 Adhesion is the phenomenon that occurs when two surfaces are pressed together, either

under a pure normal force (load) or under combined normal and shear forces. A normal

tensile force must be exerted to separate the surfaces.

 The ratio of the normal tensile force W ' required for separation (normally referred to as

adhesive force) to the normal compressive force W initially applied, is often referred to

as the coefficient of adhesion, μ

 Adhesion can be either desirable or undesirable. Strong adhesion is

required to bond the two surfaces together.

 In many engineering applications such as sliding and rotating

machinery however, adhesion is undesirable. Adhesion results in friction

and wear. In some applications, controlled adhesion is required

Adhesion force generally increases
linearly with an increase in the normal
load, Figure 4.2.2a (McFarlane and
Tabor, 1950).
Materials with higher roughness,
modulus of elasticity and/or hardness
and lack of ductility exhibit lower real
area of contact, which leads to lower
adhesion.
Any viscoelastic or viscoplastic
deformation (creep) under load would
increase the real area of contact as a
function of duration of contact leading
to an increase in adhesion, Figure 4.2.2b
Coefficients of Friction
 Maximum static-friction force
Fm   s N
 Kinetic-friction force
Fk kN
k 0.75
s

 Maximum static-friction force

and kinetic-friction force are:
- proportional to normal force
- dependent on type and
condition of contact
surfaces
- independent of contact area
Deformation
 Therefore, the load-support area (the horizontal projection of the
asperity contact), Al which supports the normal load is given by

The friction force is supported by the plowed (grooved) area

(vertical projection of the asperity contact), Ap and

Assuming that the yielding of the body is isotropic and that its
yield pressure is p, then
 Measurement of Friction
 In a friction measurement apparatus two test specimens
are loaded against each other at a desired normal load, one
of the specimens is allowed to slide relative to the other at a
desired sliding speed, and the tangential force required to
initiate or maintain sliding is measured. There are numerous
apparatuses used to measure friction force [Benzing et al.,
1976; Bhushan and Gupta, 1991].

 The simplest method is an inclined-plane technique. In

this method the flat test specimen of weight W is placed on
top of another flat specimen whose inclination can be
adjusted, as shown in Fig.. The inclination of the lower
specimen is increased from zero to an angle at which the
block begins to slide.
  At this point, downward
horizontal force being
applied at the interface
exceeds the static friction
force, Fstatic. At the
inclination angle θ, at which
the block just begins to slide
Fstatic = W sin θ
 and the coefficient of
static friction µs is
F static
s   tan 
WCos 
The angle μ is referred to as friction angle. This simple method only
measures the coefficient of static friction and does not allow the
measurements of the effect of sliding. However, this method
demonstrates the effects of friction and provides the simplest
method to measure coefficient of static friction
Friction of metals and alloy
 Metal and alloy surfaces in contact exhibit high adhesion,
and consequently high friction and wear. The coefficient of
friction of contacting metallic surfaces cleaned in a high
vacuum, can be very high, typically 2 and much higher.
 Strong metallic bonds are formed across the interface and
significant transfer of metal from one body to another, or as
loose wear debris, occurs during sliding. The slightest
contamination mitigates contact or forms chemical films
which reduce adhesion resulting in reduction of the friction
(Bowden and Tabor, 1950, 1964; Buckley, 1981).
Friction of ceramics
Fracture toughness of ceramics is an
important property in the friction of
ceramics (Ishigaki et al., 1986;
Stolarski, 1990). Figure shows the
coefficient of friction as a function of
fracture toughness for a sharp
diamond tip on silicon nitride disks
produced with various hot pressing
conditions. The coefficient of friction
values of all ceramics decreases with
an increase in fracture toughness.
Fracture readily occurs in
concentrated contacts, such as a hard
sharp pin or stylus sliding against a
flat. Energy dissipated during
fracture at the sliding contact
contributes to the friction.
 Friction of polymer
 The coefficient of friction of selected polymers used for
tribological applications, sliding against themselves or against
metals or ceramics, ranges from 0.15 to 0.6 except for
polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) which exhibits a very low
coefficient of friction of about 0.05, comparable to that of
conventional solid lubricants (Lancaster, 1972; Bhushan and
Dashnaw, 1981; Bhushan and Wilcock, 1981; Bhushan and
Winn, 1981; Santner and Czichos, 1989; Bhushan and Gupta,
1997).
 Polymers generally exhibit low friction as compared to metal
and ceramic couples but exhibit moderate wear. Polymers are
often used unlubricated in tribological applications. Polymers are
very compliant as compared to metals or ceramics, with elastic
modulus values typically one tenth or even less. Their strength is
much lower. They are often used in sliding applications against
hard mating surfaces.
Coefficient of friction as a function of normal load for sliding of crossed
cylinders of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) with two surface
roughnesses, (a) lathe turned and (b) smooth polished. Reprinted from
Archard, J.F. (1957), “Elastic Deformation and The Laws of Friction,”
Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A 243, 190–205, by permission of the Royal
Society.
The effect of normal load and surface roughness on friction is
illustrated in Figure 5.4.10 which presents the coefficient of
friction values for rough and smooth PMMA sliding on
themselves as a function of load. In the case of smooth PMMA,
the contact of friction decreases with an increase in normal load,
whereas in the case of rough PMMA, the coefficient of friction
remains constant at low loads (the case of multi-asperity
contact) and starts to decrease with an increase in the normal
load at high loads (single-asperity contact).