title: Coarse graining and localized plasticity between sliding nanocrystalline metals.
abstract: Tribological shearing of polycrystalline metals typically leads to grain refinement at the sliding interface. This study, however, shows that nanocrystalline metals exhibit qualitatively different behavior. Using large-scale atomistic simulations, we demonstrate that during sliding, contact interface nanocrystalline grains self-organize through extensive grain coarsening and lattice rotation until the optimal plastic slip orientation is established. Subsequently, plastic deformation is frequently confined to localized nanoshear bands aligned with the shearing direction and emanating from voids and other defects in the vicinity of the sliding interface.
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, MicroTribology Center, Wöhlerstraße 11, 79108 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Pedro A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, MicroTribology Center, Wöhlerstraße 11, 79108 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Tommi T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Järvi
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, MicroTribology Center, Wöhlerstraße 11, 79108 Freiburg, Germany and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Applied Materials IAM, Kaiserstraße 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Beckmann
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, MicroTribology Center, Wöhlerstraße 11, 79108 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Matous
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mrovec
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, MicroTribology Center, Wöhlerstraße 11, 79108 Freiburg, Germany and University of Freiburg, Physics Department, Hermann-Herder-Straße 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moseler