Friction plays a vital role in energy dissipation, device failure, and even energy supply in modern society. After years of research, data and information on tribology research are becoming increasingly available. Because of the strong systematic and multi-disciplinary coupling characteristics of tribology, tribology information is scattered in various disciplines with different patterns, e.g., technical documents, databases, and papers, thereby increasing the information entropy of the system, which is inconducive to the preservation and circulation of research information. With the development of computer and information science and technology, many subjects have begun to be combined with information technology, and multi-disciplinary informatics has been born. This paper describes the combination of information technology with tribology research, presenting the connotation and architecture of tribo-informatics, and providing a case study on implementing the proposed concept and architecture. The proposal and development of tribo-informatics described herein will improve the research efficiency and optimize the research process of tribology, which is of considerable significance to the development of this field.

Friction behavior at fretting interfaces is of fundamental interest in tribology and is important in material applications. However, friction has contact intervals, which can accurately determine the friction characteristics of a material; however, this has not been thoroughly investigated. Moreover, the fretting process with regard to different interfacial configurations have also not been systematically evaluated. To bridge these research gaps, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on Al-Al, diamond-diamond, and diamond-silicon fretting interfaces were performed while considering bidirectional forces. This paper also proposes new energy theories, bonding principles, nanoscale friction laws, and wear rate analyses. With these models, semi-quantitative analyses of coefficient of friction (CoF) were made and simulation outcomes were examined. The results show that the differences in the hardness, stiffness modulus, and the material configuration have a considerable influence on the fretting process. This can potentially lead to the force generated during friction contact intervals along with changes in the CoF. The effect of surface separation can be of great significance in predicting the fretting process, selecting the material, and for optimization.

No abstract

Time- and load-dependent friction behavior is considered as important for a long time, due to its time-evolution and force-driving characteristics. However, its electronic behavior, mainly considered in triboelectric effect, has almost never been given the full attention and analyses from the above point of view. In this paper, by experimenting with fcc-latticed aluminum and copper friction pairs, the mechanical and electronic behaviors of friction contacts are correlated by time and load analyses, and the behind physical understanding is provided. Most importantly, the difference of “response lag” in force and electricity is discussed, the extreme points of coefficient of friction with the increasing normal loads are observed and explained with the surface properties and dynamical behaviors (i.e. wear), and the micro and macro theories linking tribo-electricity to normal load and wear (i.e. the physical explanation between coupled electrical and mechanical phenomena) are successfully developed and tested.

No abstract