Detailed behaviors of nanoscale textured surfaces during the reciprocating sliding contacts are still unknown although they are widely used in mechanical components to improve tribological characteristics. The current research of sliding contacts of textured surfaces mainly focuses on the experimental studies, while the cost is too high. Molecular dynamics（MD） simulation is widely used in the studies of nanoscale single-pass sliding contacts, but the CPU cost of MD simulation is also too high to simulate the reciprocating sliding contacts. In this paper, employing multiscale method which couples molecular dynamics simulation and finite element method, two dimensional nanoscale reciprocating sliding contacts of textured surfaces are investigated. Four textured surfaces with different texture shapes are designed, and a rigid cylindrical tip is used to slide on these textured surfaces. For different textured surfaces, average potential energies and average friction forces of the corresponding sliding processes are analyzed. The analyzing results show that ＂running-in＂ stages are different for each texture, and steady friction processes are discovered for textured surfaces II, III and IV. Texture shape and sliding direction play important roles in reciprocating sliding contacts, which influence average friction forces greatly. This research can help to design textured surfaces to improve tribological behaviors in nanoscale reciprocating sliding contacts.
There are two separate traditional approaches to model contact problems: continuum and atomistic theory. Continuum theory is successfully used in many domains, but when the scale of the model comes to nanometer, continuum approximation meets challenges. Atomistic theory can catch the detailed behaviors of an individual atom by using molecular dynamics (MD) or quantum mechanics, although accurately, it is usually time-consuming. A multiscale method coupled MD and finite element (FE) is presented. To mesh the FE region automatically, an adaptive method based on the strain energy gradient is introduced to the multiscale method to constitute an adaptive multiscale method. Utilizing the proposed method, adhesive contacts between a rigid cylinder and an elastic substrate are studied, and the results are compared with full MD simulations. The process of FE meshes refinement shows that adaptive multiscale method can make FE mesh generation more flexible. Comparison of the displacements of boundary atoms in the overlap region with the results from full MD simulations indicates that adaptive multiscale method can transfer displacements effectively. Displacements of atoms and FE nodes on the center line of the multiscale model agree well with that of atoms in full MD simulations, which shows the continuity in the overlap region. Furthermore, the Von Mises stress contours and contact force distributions in the contact region are almost same as full MD simulations. The method presented combines multiscale method and adaptive technique, and can provide a more effective way to multiscale method and to the investigation on nanoscale contact problems.
Nanoscale sliding contacts of smooth surfaces or between a single asperity and a smooth surface have been widely investigated by molecular dynamics simulations, while there are few studies on the sliding contacts between two rough surfaces. Actually, the friction of two rough surfaces considering interactions between more asperities should be more realistic. By using multiscale method, friction characteristics of two dimensional nanoscale sliding contacts between rigid multi-asperity tips and elastic textured surfaces are investigated. Four nanoscale textured surfaces with different texture shapes are designed, and six multi-asperity tips composed of cylindrical asperities with different radii are used to slide on the textured surfaces. Friction forces are compared for different tips, and effects of the asperity radii on the friction characteristics are investigated. Average friction forces for all the cases are listed and compared, and effects of texture shapes of the textured surfaces are discussed. The results show that textured surface II has a better structure to reduce friction forces. The multi-asperity tips composed of asperities with R=20r0 （r0=0.227 7 nm） or R=30r0 get higher friction forces compared with other cases, and more atoms of the textured surfaces are taken away by these two tips, which are harmful to reduce friction or wear. For the case of R=10ro, friction forces are also high due to large contact areas, but the sliding processes are stable and few atoms are taken away by the tip. The proposed research considers interactions between more asperities to make the model approach to the real sliding contact problems. The results will help to vary or even control friction characteristics by textured surfaces, or provide references to the design of textured surfaces.
