Fundamental Aspects of Friction and Lubrication

Fundament Aspects of Friction and Lubrication

5 to 10% of the GDP of industrialized nations are lost due to friction and wear. In recent years novel experimental techniques, novel materials, as well as improved theoretical modeling and numerical simulation techniques greatly improved our understanding of the basic mechanisms friction and wear. Thermolubricity, superlubricity, the role of elastic and plastic deformations in contact mechanics have been studied in great detail. Yet, the vast majority of this progress refers to idealized situations, in particular the well-defined nano-scale single asperity contacts in Atomic Force Microscopes in ultrahigh vacuum.

The great challenge for the future is to harvest this knowledge and all the accompanying “tricks and tools” for the real world of macroscopic sliding contact with multiple asperities, frequently in the presence of lubricants. Bridging this gap from the nano-scale to the micro- and macro-scale involves far more than simple scaling up. Novel physics such as size-dependent elasticity and plasticity arise upon linking the various multiple length scales. This workshop brings together leading scientists in the tribology to discuss the consequences of modern theories of contact mechanics (single asperity vs. multiple asperity contacts; elastic vs. elasto-plastic contacts), the promises of novel low friction materials (e.g. graphene, boron nitride), as well as the challenges of dry and wet lubrication (confined fluids; solid-liquid interfaces) for this transition from nanoscale to macroscale sliding contacts.

The workshop is initiated by the members of the national program “Fundamental Aspects of Friction” of FOM, the physics branch of the Dutch national science foundation.

Invited speakers:

Sissi de Beer (Jülich, Germany)

Roland Bennewitz (Saarbrücken, Germany)

Lionel Bureau (Grenoble, France)

Rob Carpick (Univ. Pennsylvania, USA)

Takeshi Fukuma (Kanazawa , Japan)

Gerhard Hummer (Bethesda , USA)

Ernst Meyer (Basel, Switzerland)

Martin Müser (Jülich, Germany)

Lucia Nicola (Delft, Netherlands)

Elisa Riedo (Atlanta, USA)

Jean O’Shea (Singapore)

Andre Schirmeisen (Giessen, Germany)