title: Strongly Modulated Friction of a Film-Terminated Ridge-Channel Structure.
abstract: Natural contacting surfaces have remarkable surface mechanical properties, which has led to the development of bioinspired surface structures using rubbery materials with strongly enhanced adhesion and static friction. However, sliding friction of structured rubbery surfaces is almost always significantly lower than that of a flat control, often due to significant loss of contact. Here we show that a film-terminated ridge-channel structure can strongly enhance sliding friction. We show that with properly chosen materials and geometrical parameters the near surface structure undergoes mechanical instabilities along with complex folding and sliding of internal interfaces, which is responsible for the enhancement of sliding friction. Because this structure shows no enhancement of adhesion under normal indentation by a sphere, it breaks the connection between energy loss during normal and shear loading. This makes it potentially interesting in many applications, for instance in tires, where one wishes to minimize rolling resistance (normal loading) while maximizing sliding friction (shear loading).
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical &Biomolecular Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Zhenping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical &Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Chung-Yuen
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.affiliation: Michelin Corporation, European Center of Technologies, rue bleue, ZI Ladoux, 63112 Clermont-Ferrand, France.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Levrard
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical &Biomolecular Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical &Biomolecular Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.|Bioengineering Program, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Anand
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jagota