"Unraveling the Laws of Superlubricity: A Scientific Breakthrough"
Originally Published 2 years ago — by Phys.org
Scientists at Skoltech have unraveled the mystery of superlubricity, a phenomenon where friction is extremely low and does not depend on the weight of the sliding body. They conducted experiments, numerical simulations, and theoretical conceptualization to explain the atomistic mechanism behind this phenomenon and formulated alternative friction laws for superlubricity. The study reveals that synchronous thermal fluctuations, in sync with the sliding motion, play a crucial role in hindering relative motion between surfaces, leading to ultralow friction. Understanding this at the microscopic level could have significant implications for energy-saving mechanisms worldwide.