Rubber friction: comparison of theory with experiment

We have measured the friction force acting on a rubber block slid on a concrete surface. We used both unfilled and filled (with carbon black) styrene butadiene (SB) rubber and have varied the temperature from -10 °C to 100 °C and the sliding velocity from 1 μm/s to 1000 μm/s. We find that the experimental data at different temperatures can be shifted into a smooth master-curve, using the temperature-frequency shifting factors obtained from measurements of the bulk viscoelastic modulus. The experimental data has been analyzed using a theory which takes into account the contributions to the friction from both the substrate asperity-induced viscoelastic deformations of the rubber, and from shearing the area of real contact. For filled SB rubber the frictional shear stress σ(f) in the area of real contact results mainly from the energy dissipation at the opening crack on the exit side of the rubber-asperity contact regions. For unfilled rubber we instead attribute σ(f) to shearing of a thin rubber smear film, which is deposited on the concrete surface during run in. We observe very different rubber wear processes for filled and unfilled SB rubber, which is consistent with the different frictional processes. Thus, the wear of filled SB rubber results in micrometer-sized rubber particles which accumulate as dry dust, which is easily removed by blowing air on the concrete surface. This wear process seams to occur at a steady rate. For unfilled rubber a smear film forms on the concrete surface, which cannot be removed even using a high-pressure air stream. In this case the wear rate appears to slow down after some run in time period.