Sliding Friction and its Applications

This chapter discusses dry friction between solid surfaces. Experiments discussed in the chapter show that the binomial friction theory is suitable for boundary lubrication, but it is also applicable to some actual contacts in dry friction problems, such as problems of determining the sliding between a dam basis and the rock surface, to calculate the load-carrying capacity of an adhesive joint and so on. Adhesion friction theory and mechanical-molecular friction theory study the friction from the viewpoint of force. At the microscopic scale, the energy dissipation has been studied and several friction models have been established. It is an important subject to study the variation of the friction coefficient with the influencing factors in order to control a friction process and reduce the friction loss. The friction coefficient varies significantly with the working conditions. Thus, it is very difficult to accurately pre-determine the working data and comprehensively estimate the factors influencing the friction coefficient.