Speaker
Astrid de Wijn
(Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Description
Friction between solid surfaces is an important phenomenon
in everyday life. A large portion of the total energy
production in industrialised countries is lost through
friction and wear. Friction is a very complex phenomenon
with dynamics happening on many length and time scales. At
the most basic level, however, is the dissipation at the
nano-scale level. At this level, real sliding interfaces
can still be fairly complex. Often, there are molecules
adsorbed on the surfaces, originating from the atmosphere or
additives that have been put in a lubricant to protect the
surface from wear, corrosion, etc. I will discuss
theoretical approaches to studying how adsorbed molecules
affect the friction at the nano scale, using simple models
and molecular-dynamics simulations.
