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Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 176101 (2007) [4 pages]

Pressure Induced Friction Collapse of Rare Gas Boundary Layers Sliding over Metal Surfaces

M. C. Righi and M. Ferrario
CNISM-Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze Fisiche della Materia, CNR-INFM National Research Center on nanoStructures and bioSystems at Surfaces (S3), Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 213/A, 41100 Modena, Italy
Received 28 February 2007; published 24 October 2007

In this Letter we show that friction of anticorrugating systems can be dramatically decreased by applying an external load. The counterintuitive behavior that deviates from the macroscopic Amonton law is dictated by quantum mechanical effects that induce a transformation from anticorrugation to corrugation in the near-surface region. We describe the load-driven modifications occurring in the potential energy surface of different rare gas-metal adsorbate systems, namely, Ar, Kr, Xe on Cu(111), and Xe on Ag(111), and we calculate the consequent friction drop for the commensurate Xe/Cu system by means of combined ab initio and classical molecular dynamics simulations.

©2007 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.176101
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.176101
PACS: 68.35.Af; 61.50.Ks; 71.15.Mb
  • 68.35.Af
    Atomic scale friction (solid surfaces/interfaces)
  • 61.50.Ks
    Crystallographic aspects of phase transformations; pressure effects
  • 71.15.Mb
    Density functional theory, local density approximation, gradient and other corrections (condensed matter electronic structure)
  • YEAR: 2007

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