Dependence of Adhesive Friction on Surface Roughness and Elastic Modulus

When adhesive elastomeric materials slide over hard rough surfaces at low velocities, there are two primary dissipative mechanisms that control how friction changes with sliding velocity: viscoelastic dissipation and adhesive dissipation. To distinguish the contribution of these dissipative mechanisms we have measured frictional shear stresses for crosslinked polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on three different rough surfaces of similar surface chemistry across nearly six decades of sliding velocity. The results show that the observed friction is dominated by adhesive dissipation, rather than viscoelastic dissipation. Prior models for elastomer friction assume that roughness only influences adhesive dissipation via the amount of contact area; by contrast, we find that the roughness-induced oscillations occurring across all length scales from macroscopic to atomic influence the molecular processes governing the adhesive dissipation. While it was previously known that roughness-induced oscillations affected the viscoelastic dissipation; this is the first demonstration that these oscillations also control the behavior of the adhesive component of friction. Finally, while theory predicts that rough friction should be independent of 2 elastic modulus, we show that a strong dependence on modulus, with the frictional shear stress scaling as E’. When analyzed in this way, data from four different moduli and three different roughnesses collapse onto a universal curve to describe the velocity-dependent friction of soft materials. Taken together, this investigation sheds new light on the adhesive component of friction, and how it depends on the roughness and stiffness of the materials. Significance Statement Elastomer friction underlies critical applications from tires to soft robotics to 3D printing of soft materials. However, the scientific understanding is incomplete, with state-of-the-art models for rough surfaces describing only viscoelastic dissipation and neglecting the other major contribution: surface interactions. We fill this gap in understanding by performing friction experiments with varying-modulus silicone rubbers across a six-order-of-magnitude range of velocity, on surfaces that were characterized to atomic dimensions. Systematic shifts in velocity-dependent friction with roughness and stiffness suggest a universal curve of behavior for soft materials. These findings reveal how roughness-induced oscillations influence the interfacial interactions that control adhesive friction.