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Updated: Oct 22, 2025

The Role of Fabric in Frictional Properties of Phyllosilicate-Rich Tectonic Faults
Published on: November 6, 2021
Elementary, Atomic-Level Friction Processes in Systems with Metallic Inclusions-Systematic Simulations for a Wide
Małgorzata Gzik-Szumiata1, Tadeusz Szumiata1, Dmitrij Morozow2
1Department of Physics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Technology and Humanities in Radom, Stasieckiego 54, 26-600 Radom, Poland.
Abstract:
In this work, simulations of friction at the atomic level were performed to evaluate the influence of inclusions coming from metallic nanoadditives in the friction pair. The simple 2D model was applied considering appropriate values of Lennard-Jones potential parameters for given sets of interacting atoms. The real sliding pairs were replaced by effective equivalents consisting of several atoms. The calculations were based on the pseudo-static approximation. The simplicity of the model enabled to repeat the fast calculations in a very wide range of local pressures and for several types of atomic tribopairs. The performed simulations demonstrated a strong dependence of the coefficient of friction (COF) on the atomic environment of the atoms constituting a tribopair. It was confirmed theoretically that the Mo-Fe pair is characterized by lower atomic COF than Fe-Fe, Cu-Fe, and Ag-Fe pairs. This points to the great applicational potential of metallic molybdenum coating applications in tribological systems. Moreover, it was demonstrated that, although Cu-Cu and Ag-Ag pairs are characterized by relatively high COF, they lower the friction as inclusions in Fe surfaces.
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