Parameters Affecting the Kinetic Friction of Ice

Abstract

A study of the mechanics of ice friction was performed in which various theoretical models were compared to experimental results. Analytical models indicate that ice friction is affected by load, speed, ambient temperature, and thermal properties of the counterface material. All four parameters were varied and the results compared to analytical models with additional study using regression analysis. Conclusions indicate that under some conditions the friction of ice is subject to a thermal control mechanism.

Atomistic simulations of friction at an ice-ice interface

“…Ice friction experiments performed at the macroscopic scale show a decrease in the friction coefficient with increasing normal load, with a considerable difference between results depending on the material sliding over ice surface as well as temperature and velocity [31,47,48,52,54]. Similar trends are also seen in the simulations, which also show a decrease in the frictional force with increasing load, although in all cases (regardless of temperature or sliding velocity) the dependence becomes less pronounced as the load increases.…”

“…Experimental studies have shown that generally friction on ice surfaces is influenced by temperature, sliding velocity and applied load [31,[46][47][48]54]. However, when comparing the presented simulations to experiments, it should be noted that the simulated interfaces are atomistically smooth and always separated by the liquid premelt layer.…”

“…Despite the importance of ice-ice friction and its relevance to understanding the surface properties of ice, studies of ice friction have been mainly limited to heterogeneous materials [31,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. The friction of ice on ice has received little attention-the few existing experimental studies show generally low coefficients of friction (from 0.05 up to 1.6) at temperatures close to the melting point, with a clear dependence on the sliding velocity and temperature [54][55][56][57][58][59][60].…”

The physics of sliding cylinders and curling rocks

“…The v Ϫ1/2 dependence given by Eq. ͑17͒ has been experimentally verified [8][9][10] for various sliders on ice. To verify whether Eq.…”

“…However, the coefficient of kinetic friction can be determined without consideration of the actual physical mechanism responsible for the retarding force but instead by looking at the problem in terms of energy transfer. [8][9][10] Assuming that there are n contact points between the slider and ice, and that these contact areas are square with sides of length s, the magnitude of the frictional force per contact point, f c , can be expressed as f c ϭ k F n /n, ͑10͒ where k is the coefficient of kinetic friction and F n is the net normal force between the two surfaces. The energy produced at each contact point, Q f , by the frictional force during a contact time of s/v is then given by…”