Dry friction in the Frenkel-Kontorova-Tomlinson model: dynamical properties

Wearless friction is investigated in a simple mechanical model called Frenkel-Kontorova-Tomlinson model. We have introduced this model in [Phys. Rev. B, 53 , 7539 (1996)] where the static friction has already been considered. Here the model is treated for constant sliding speed. The motion of the internal degrees of freedom is regular for small sliding velocities or weak interaction between the sliding surfaces. The regular motion for large velocities is strongly determined by normal and superharmonic resonance of phonons excited by the so-called “washboard wave”. The kinetic friction has maxima near these resonances. For increasing interaction strength the regular motion becomes unstable due to parametric resonance leading to quasistatic and chaotic motion. For sliding velocities beyond first-order parametric resonance bistability occurs between the strongly chaotic motion (fluid sliding state), where friction is large and a regular motion (solid sliding state), where friction is weak. The fluid sliding state is mainly determined by the density of decay channels of m washboard waves into n phonons. This density describes qualitatively the effectiveness of the energy transfer from the uniform sliding motion into the microscopic, irregular motion of the degrees of freedom at the sliding interface. For a narrow interval of the sliding velocities we also found enhanced friction due to coherent motion. In the regime of coherent motion nondestructive interactions of dark envelope solitons occur.