Friction of Metals

Sliding metal contacts are generally operated in the

presence of lubricating substances
Oils, greases or solid film lubricants

Dry contact occurs when

Lubricants fail through some accident
Lubricants are heated above its effective working temperature

Still, a real clean surface without any surface film is very

difficult to obtain
 Unlubricated Metal Surface

Frictional properties are greatly affected by surface films (layers)

Oxide layer produced by reaction of oxygen from the air with the metal
present with all metals except the noble metals such as gold
An adsorbed layer derived from the atmosphere (about 1 molecule thick,
i.e., about 3107 mm)
Constituents of this layer are generally molecules of water vapour and
oxygen
A greasy or oil film, outermost (about 3106 mm thick)
 Preparation of a clean surface
Normally, the unwanted grease film from the surface is removed
by using a good solvent such as acetone or carbon tetrachloride
Still, a layer of about 3 - 30 cannot be removed by this.
Greasy substance have high affinity for clean metal surfaces

Two methods for preparation of clean surfaces

A cutting process,
By abrading the surface with clean abrasive paper and/or lapping or
polishing under clean water
Cutting with a clean tool in the absence of a cutting fluid
Treatment of a previously prepared surface with a strong caustic soda
solution, followed by rinsing in distilled water
Also by allowing vapour from a pure organic solvent to condense on the
surface and to run off, carrying impurities with it (vapour degreasing)
Further cleaning is done by sliding it against a similar surface
 Test of a clean surface

(a) Appearance of a water drop on a metal surface. If the surface is clean, the
drop continues to spread
(b) Metal surface after it is breathed on. Forms a uniform and invisible film if the
surface is clean. If the moisture drops are visible as a mist, then the surface is
contaminated.
 Sliding of clean metal surfaces

The type of friction under such condition depends on:

Nature of the contacting materials (strongly)
Load, surface area, surface roughness and velocity
To a lesser extent

Two types of behaviour:

Severe Frictional Behaviour
Mild Frictional Behaviour
 Severe Frictional Behaviour
Friction coefficient is high
(1.2 to 0.6)

Large irregular fluctuations

in the instantaneous
values of the friction force

Tracks are seen on the

surface where prominent
points on one surface,
ploughed through the
other

Microscopy shows large

particles (exceeding 50
m) transferred from one
surface to the other
 Mild Frictional behaviour
Friction coefficient is lower
(0.6 to 0.3)

Friction coefficient is either

steady or else of the regular
stick-slip type fluctuating
between two well-defined
extreme positions

Surfaces show fine lines

indicating ploughing of small
asperities on other surface

Microscopy shows small

particles (below 25 m)
transferred from one surface
to the other
 Some Observations
Severe frictional behaviour is found when:
the two metal surfaces consist of the same metal, or,
they consist of compatible metals
Substantial solubility of atoms of one metal in a lattice of the other causes
severe wear
Examples:

Sliding of copper on copper gives above 1.0 (same metals)

Sliding of aluminum on iron or low-carbon steel gives high values of (0.8)
since the two metals have high solid solubility

Mild frictional behaviour prevails when metals are not alike or of

low affinity
Examples:
Silver sliding on iron or low-carbon steel gives low values of (0.3)
This is because the two metals do not alloy
Molten metal and Molten iron are immiscible
 Some Observations (contd)
Severe frictional behaviour prevails when one of the sliding
metals is very soft
Soft metal readily coats the other metal with a film of its own fragments,
making further sliding to be that between the same soft metals

Hard metals (such as, chromium and nickel), do not show severe
frictional behaviour even when slid against themselves
Under high humidity conditions, adsorbed moisture film acts as a lubricant

Severe frictional behaviour is interpreted as an instability due to

excessive growth and spreading into each other of individual
junctions
Rough surfaces are not likely to give very high friction values since it is
difficult to grow the junctions to a marked degree
This is more prominent when the lapping groves are at right angles to the sliding
direction
 Some Observations (contd)
Gold has a high value of among most metals when sliding
against itself
Forms no oxide film although adsorbed gases will be present in air
Asperity junctions tend to be strong
It is ductile so that considerable junction growth can occur
All these factors contribute to a high friction force

In general, as the ductility of a metal increases, value of also

increases
 Sliding of metal alloys
One-phase alloys (Eg. Coin silver)
Behave like pure metals
Frictional properties are similar to those of their major constituent
Sliding on themselves, they give high friction and surface damage

Multiphase alloys (Eg. Copper-lead bearing alloys)

Give mild frictional behaviour

When the less prominent phase is softer than the other, the softer phase
can get smeared out over the surface of the alloy, and act as a lubricant
Lead containing babbit bearing alloys and graphite containing cast irons
have the similar behaviour
 More observations

Overall frictional coefficient of a pair of metals depend on the

properties of their oxides being formed as a surface film

Clean metal surfaces working in high-vacuum systems will have

very high friction coefficients (values from 5 to 200 are common)
High degree of surface damage during sliding
Friction force is almost independent of the applied load
Friction force is almost proportional to the area of contact
Violates normal laws of friction
Frictional properties are not very severe for very hard metals such as
nickel and chromium
 Friction of Non-Metals
Contaminating films are less important in the frictional properties
of non-metals

Though non-metals include too widely dissimilar substances,

the frictional properties are fairly uniform
Kinetic frictional coefficients of the order of 0.5 to 0.25
Static coefficients of friction ranges from 0.6 to 0.4

Surface damage and wear are moderate

Sliding on other materials, frictional properties of non-metals

tend to be those of the softer material
Harder material gets covered by particles of the softer material
System gets converted to a softer material sliding on itself - Not severe
 Highly Elastic Materials

For many non metals such as diamond and MoS2-resin

combinations, friction coefficient diminishes as load is increased

Maximum elastic strain, y is high

Deformation during sliding is elastic rather than plastic

 Friction of Layer Lattice Materials
Graphite, MoS2, Cadmium iodide
etc. are in this category
Posses layer-lattice structure
Crystal structure is such that
sheets exist within their crystal
lattices
These sheets are separated by
relatively large distances, and are
held together by weak residual
forces
Strong attractive forces are
present within the sheets, but
between sheets, the forces are
much weaker
Low coefficient of friction (0.1)
when sliding takes place parallel
to the sheet direction
(0.3 for perpendicular direction)
 Friction Mechanism of Graphite
When graphite slides on a metal
surface, platelets detach
themselves from the graphite
block and are deposited on the
metal surface so that the sheets
lie almost flat
Forms an excellent solid-lubricant
film on the metal surface
Low friction and low wear rate are
developed only in presence of
moisture or some other volatile
organic material
This auxiliary material helps in
splitting off the layer-lattice
platelets
( Under certain conditions MoS2 does
not need an auxiliary material)
Friction of Polytetrafluoroethelene (PTFE) (Teflon)

Possess great chemical inertness (due to the strong carbon-

fluorine bonds in its structure

Has a slippery feel and shows very little tendency to form

strong bonds with other materials

Very low value of coefficient of friction (0.04) even at high loads

and low sliding velocities