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Related Concept Videos

Characteristics of Dry Friction01:21

Characteristics of Dry Friction

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Dry friction occurs when two solid surfaces slide against each other without any lubrication or fluid present. It causes resistance when pushing objects along a surface, like a gardener pushing a wheelbarrow. The force applied to move the cart causes dry friction between the wheel and the ground.
Before the wheelbarrow starts moving, the static frictional force acts tangentially to the contact surface, opposing the force that is about to induce the motion. This frictional force prevents the...
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Flat belts are commonly used in various industrial applications for transmitting power from one pulley to another. When a flat belt is wrapped around a set of pulleys, it experiences different tensions at the driving pulley ends due to the friction between the belt and pulley surface. When the pulley moves in a counterclockwise direction, the tension T2 on the opposite side of the pulley where the belt is moving away from is higher than the tension T1 on the side where the belt is moving...
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Friction is an essential concept in physics, engineering, and everyday life. It is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of such motion between two surfaces in contact. One of the most common types of friction encountered in various applications is dry friction. Dry friction problems can be broadly categorized into three types, each with unique characteristics and challenges.
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Static friction is a force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of motion between two surfaces in contact. It plays a crucial role in our daily lives, from walking on the ground to driving a car.
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Dry friction occurs between two solid surfaces in contact as they attempt to move relative to one another. In daily life, dry friction is encountered in various forms, such as when walking on the ground, sliding an object across a table, or rubbing hands together. Despite its ubiquity, the underlying mechanisms behind dry friction are not readily visible.
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One of the simpler characteristics of sliding friction is that it is parallel to the contact surfaces between systems, and is always in a direction that opposes the motion or attempted motion of the systems relative to each other. If two systems are in contact and moving relative to one another, then the friction between them is called kinetic friction. For example, kinetic friction slows a hockey puck sliding on ice.
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Updated: Nov 27, 2025

Preparation and Friction Force Microscopy Measurements of Immiscible, Opposing Polymer Brushes
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Surface textures suppress viscoelastic braking on soft substrates.

Martin Coux1, John M Kolinski1

  • 1Engineering Mechanics of Soft Interfaces, School of Engineering, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland martin.coux@epfl.ch john.kolinski@epfl.ch.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|December 5, 2020
PubMed
Summary

Textured soft surfaces prevent droplet slowing caused by viscoelastic braking. Droplet motion is restored by textures that enable rapid contact line movement, suppressing energy dissipation in the solid.

Keywords:
dropletselastocapillaritypolymerssoft matter

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Area of Science:

  • Soft matter physics
  • Fluid dynamics
  • Surface science

Background:

  • Droplets on compliant substrates experience viscoelastic braking, slowing their motion due to solid deformation at the contact line.
  • This braking effect arises from energy dissipation within the deforming solid material.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how surface textures influence droplet behavior on compliant substrates.
  • To determine if textures can mitigate or suppress viscoelastic braking.
  • To explore the role of capillary stresses and contact line dynamics on textured soft surfaces.

Main Methods:

  • Fabrication of patterned compliant substrates.
  • Confocal microscopy to observe texture deformation and contact line behavior.
  • High-speed microscopy to measure droplet velocities.
  • Computational analysis of pillar deflection and energy dissipation.

Main Results:

  • The superhydrophobic Cassie state is maintained on soft textured surfaces.
  • Capillary stresses deform textured elements, inducing liquid pinning.
  • Textured surfaces require greater initial force for droplet motion compared to flat surfaces.
  • Droplet velocities on textured (soft or hard) and flat substrates are similar, indicating suppression of viscoelastic braking.
  • High contact line velocities on textures lead to reduced solid deformation and dissipation.

Conclusions:

  • Surface textures can suppress viscoelastic braking on compliant substrates by enabling rapid contact line motion.
  • Texture-induced contact line geometry and scale are crucial for mitigating energy dissipation in the solid.
  • Pillar deflection at the receding contact line does not impede overall droplet motion.