Modeling of the rough spherical nanoparticles manipulation on a substrate based on the AFM nanorobot

In this paper, dynamic behavior of the rough spherical micro/nanoparticles during pulling/pushing on the flat substrate has been investigated and analyzed. For this purpose, at first, two hexagonal roughness models (George and Cooper) were studied and then evaluations for adhesion force were determined for rough particle manipulation on flat substrate. These two models were then changed by using of the Rabinovich theory. Evaluations were determined for contact adhesion force between rough particle and flat substrate; depth of penetration evaluations were determined by the Johnson–Kendall–Roberts contact mechanic theory and the Schwartz method and according to Cooper and George roughness models. Then, the novel contact theory was used to determine a dynamic model for rough micro/nanoparticle manipulation on flat substrate. Finally, simulation of particle dynamic behavior was implemented during pushing of rough spherical gold particles with radii of 50, 150, 400, 600, and 1,000 nm. Results derived from simulations of particles with several rates of roughness on flat substrate indicated that compared to results for flat particles, inherent roughness on particles might reduce the rate of critical force needed for sliding and rolling given particles. Given a fixed radius for roughness value and increased roughness height, evaluations for sliding and rolling critical forces showed greater reduction. Alternately, the rate of critical force was shown to reduce relative to an increased roughness radius. With respect to both models, based on the George roughness model, the predicted rate of adhesion force was greater than that determined in the Cooper roughness model, and as a result, the predicted rate of critical force based on the George roughness model was closer to the critical force value of flat particle.     

Stabilizing stick-slip friction

Even the most regular stick-slip frictional sliding is always stochastic, with irregularity in both the intervals between slip events and the sizes of the associated stress drops. Applying small-amplitude oscillations to the shear force, we show, experimentally and theoretically, that the stick-slip periods synchronize. We further show that this phase locking is related to the inhibition of slow rupture modes which forces a transition to fast rupture, providing a possible mechanism for observed remote triggering of earthquakes. Such manipulation of collective modes may be generally relevant to extended nonlinear systems driven near to criticality.     

剪切振动下湿颗粒的力学谱

在恒温25 ℃剪切振动条件下,测量不同水分含量的NaCl湿颗粒体系的力学谱（能量耗散tanφ和剪切模量G）.研究发现,随着剪切振幅增大,NaCl湿颗粒体系的剪切模量G和能量耗散tanφ都表现出类似于干颗粒体系的阻塞（Jamming）转变行为.随着体系中水含量的增大,湿颗粒体系的剪切模量G和能量耗散tanφ在质量分数约等于11%的临界水浓度下均出现一个峰值,且峰位与应变振幅无关,表明此时颗粒之间主要的作用力发生了变化.     

掺硅类金刚石薄膜摩擦过程的分子动力学模拟

掺硅类金刚石(Si-DLC) 薄膜表现出优异的摩擦学性能, 在潮湿空气和高温中显示出极低的摩擦系数和很好的耐磨性, 但是许多实验表明Si-DLC膜的摩擦性能受其硅含量的影响很大. 因此, 本文采用分子动力学模拟的方法分别研究干摩擦和油润滑两种情况下不同硅含量的Si-DLC膜的摩擦过程. 滑移结果表明干摩擦时DLC膜和掺硅DLC膜之间生成了一层转移膜, 而油润滑时则为边界膜. 因此干摩擦时的摩擦力明显大于油润滑时的摩擦力. 少量添加硅确实能降低DLC膜的摩擦力, 但是硅含量大于20%后对DLC膜的摩擦行为几乎无影响. 干摩擦时硅含量对转移膜内键的数量影响很大, 转移膜内CC键和CSi键都先增加后减少, 滑移结束时几乎不含CSi键.     

Numerical study of optical trapping properties of nanoparticle on metallic film with periodic structure

Based on the three-dimensional dispersive finite difference time domain method and Maxwell stress tensor equation,the optical trapping properties of nanoparticle placed on the gold film with periodic circular holes are investigated numerically. Surface plasmon polaritons are excited on the metal-dielectric interface, with particular emphasis on the crucial role in tailoring the optical force acting on a nearby nanoparticle. Utilizing a first order corrected electromagnetic field components for a fundamental Gaussian beam, the incident beam is added into the calculation model of the proposed method. To obtain the detailed trapping properties of nanoparticle, the selected calculations on the effects of beam waist radius, sizes of nanoparticle and circular holes, distance between incident Gaussian beam and gold film, material of nanoparticle and polarization angles of incident wave are analyzed in detail to demonstrate that the optical-trapping force can be explained as a virtual spring which has a restoring force to perform positive and negative forces as a nanoparticle moves closer to or away from the centers of circular holes. The results of optical trapping properties of nanoparticle in the vicinity of the gold film could provide guidelines for further research on the optical system design and manipulation of arbitrary composite nanoparticles.     

Dynamic modeling of manipulation of micro/nanoparticles on rough surfaces

In this paper, the dynamic behavior of spherical micro/nanoparticles, while being pushed on rough substrates, is studied by means of an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). For this purpose, first, the contact adhesion force, and the areas and penetration depths of rough surfaces are derived based on the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) theory, the Schwarz method, and the Rumpf/Rabinovich models. Then, the dynamic model of particle manipulation on rough substrates is revised using the specified contact theory for rough surfaces. And finally, the pushing of spherical particles with 50, 100, 200, 500, and 10000 nm radii is simulated. The results show that the critical force and the critical time of manipulation decrease when the particles are pushed on the rough surfaces as compared to the smooth ones. It is also observed that the critical force for a rough substrate containing asperities of low height and large radius approaches a comparable critical force magnitude to the smooth substrate, as is expected. Also, when the asperity radius in the substrate is within the range of 0.5 < r < 5 nm, the critical force of pushing decreases; however, as the asperity radius becomes larger than 5 nm, the critical force begins to increase again. Furthermore, the critical values are generally more sensitive to the changes of the asperity radius than the height. It is also found that the difference between the critical values based on the Rumpf and Rabinovich models is negligible. However, the estimation of particles’ dynamic behavior using the Rumpf model could be wrong for the rough substrates with small radius asperities, which is considerable in the manipulation and assembly practices. Moreover, the dynamic behavior of particles of small radius (r < 500 nm) change during the pushing process on rough surfaces, and the rolling behavior could be possible on the surfaces that have small radius asperities. The probability of this occurrence is increased in the pushing of larger particles on rougher substrates.     

Frictional figures of merit for single layered nanostructures

We determine the frictional figures of merit for a pair of layered honeycomb nanostructures, such as graphane, fluorographene, MoS2 and WO2 moving over each other, by carrying out ab initio calculations of interlayer interaction under constant loading force. Using the Prandtl-Tomlinson model we derive the critical stiffness required to avoid stick-slip behavior. We show that these layered structures have low critical stiffness even under high loading forces due to their charged surfaces repelling each other. The intrinsic stiffness of these materials exceeds critical stiffness and thereby the materials avoid the stick-slip regime and attain nearly dissipationless continuous sliding. Remarkably, tungsten dioxide displays a much better performance relative to others and heralds a potential superlubricant. The absence of mechanical instabilities leading to conservative lateral forces is also confirmed directly by the simulations of sliding layers.     

Theoretical Study on the Capillary Force between an Atomic Force Microscope Tip and a Nanoparticle

Considering that capillary force is one of the most important forces between nanoparticles and atomic force microscope （AFM） tips in ambient atmosphere, we develop an analytic approach on the capillary force between an AFM tip and a nanoparticle. The results show that the capillary forces are considerably affected by the geometry of the AFM tip, the humidity of the environment, the vertical distance between the AFM tip and the nanoparticle, as well as the contact angles of the meniscus with an AFM tip and a nanoparticle. It is found that the sharper the AFM tip, the smaller the capillary force. The analyses and results are expected to be helpful for the quantitative imaging and manipulating of nanoparticles by AFMs.     

Asymmetric step-like characteristics in a tilted rocking ratchet potential

The overdamped Langevin dynamics has been employed to study the directional transport of particles driven in a tilted rocking ratchet potential. The system subjected to a constant direct force undergoes an asymmetrical dynamic transition from a static state to a sliding state at two different critical forces that are consistent with the predicted values. When an additional alternating force is applied to the system, the time-averaged velocity shows several steps of equal height as the direct force increases. These steps are similar to the Shapiro steps in an rf-driven Josephson junction, and appear whenever the system's natural frequency given by the direct force matches an integer multiple of the applied frequency. When the alternating force exceeds a certain critical value which can be also estimated for a slow rocking, a directional motion known as the rectification effect occurs even at zero direct force.     

Superlubricity of graphite

Using a home-built frictional force microscope that is able to detect forces in three dimensions with a lateral force resolution down to 15 pN, we have studied the energy dissipation between a tungsten tip sliding over a graphite surface in dry contact. By measuring atomic-scale friction as a function of the rotational angle between two contacting bodies, we show that the origin of the ultralow friction of graphite lies in the incommensurability between rotated graphite layers, an effect proposed under the name of "superlubricity" [Phys. Rev. B 41, 11 837 (1990)]].     

A Study of Resuspended Particles from a Line Bed at the Wall of a Fluid Flow. Statistical Aspects

A statistical analysis of the dynamic behaviour of a bed of particles on the wall of a fluid flow is presented. By applying the different forces acting on each particle, i.e. fluid forces, adhesion to the wall and autohesion forces, conditions needed to obtain possible motions are determined and motions of the last downstream particle are described. It is shown that, above a critical value, increasing flow rate will promote the re-entrainment process along the wall, whereas increasing adhesion and autohesion forces will maintain the line bed stationary. Moreover, in some circumstances, starting particles execute some small jumps before rolling and/or sliding along the wall, which reduces the residence time of the particle on the wall. These results confirms some published hypotheses.     

Optical pulling force on nanoparticle clusters with gain due to Fano-like resonance

We demonstrate that, in a simple linearly-polarized plane wave, the optical pulling forces on nanoparticle clusters with gain can be induced by the Fano-like resonance. The numerical results based on the full-wave calculation show that the optical pulling forces can be attributed to the recoil forces for the nanoparticle clusters composed of dipolar nanoparticles with three different configurations. Interestingly, the recoil forces giving rise to optical pulling forces are exactly dominated by the coupling term between the electric and magnetic dipoles excited in the nanoparticle clusters, while other higher-order terms have a negligible contribution. In addition, the optical pulling force can be tailored by modulating the Fano-like resonance via either the particle size or the gain magnitude, offering an alternative freedom degree for optical manipulations of particle clusters.     

Experimental verification of nanoparticle jet minimum quantity lubrication effectiveness in grinding

In our experiment, K-P36 precision numerical control surface grinder was used for dry grinding, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) grinding, nanoparticle jet MQL grinding, and traditional flood grinding of hardened 45 steel. A three-dimensional dynamometer was used to measure grinding force in the experiment. In this research, experiments were conducted to measure and calculate specific tangential grinding force, frictional coefficient, and specific grinding energy, thus verifying the lubrication performance of nanoparticles in surface grinding. Findings present that compared with dry grinding, the specific tangential grinding force of MQL grinding, nanoparticle jet MQL grinding, and flood grinding decreased by 45.88, 62.34, and 69.33 %, respectively. Their frictional coefficient was reduced by 11.22, 29.21, and 32.18 %, and the specific grinding energy declined by 45.89, 62.34, and 69.45 %, respectively. Nanoparticle jet MQL presented ideal lubrication effectiveness, which was attributed to the friction oil film with strong antifriction and anti-wear features formed by nanoparticles on the grinding wheel/workpiece interface. Moreover, lubricating properties of nanoparticles of the same size (50 nm) but different types were verified through experimentation. In our experiment, ZrO₂ nanoparticles, polycrystal diamond (PCD) nanoparticles, and MoS₂ nanoparticles were used in the comparison of nanoparticle jet MQL grinding. The experimental results manifest that MoS₂ nanoparticles exhibited the optimal lubricating effectiveness, followed by PCD nanoparticles. Our research also integrated the properties of different nanoparticles to analyze the lubrication mechanisms of different nanoparticles. The experiment further verified the impact of nanoparticle concentration on the effectiveness of nanoparticle jet MQL in grinding. The experimental results demonstrate that when the nanoparticle mass fraction was 6 %, the minimum specific tangential grinding force, frictional coefficient, and specific grinding energy were 1.285 N/mm, 0.382, and 57.825 J/mm³, respectively. When nanoparticle mass fraction was smaller than 6 %, lubrication effects of nanoparticle jet MQL increased with the rising nanoparticle mass fraction. When nanoparticle mass fraction was larger than 6 %, lubrication effects of nanoparticle jet MQL decreased with the rising nanoparticle mass fraction.     

Multiple trapping using a focused hybrid vector beam

We propose a simple and efficient method that uses a single focused hybrid vector beam to confine metallic Rayleigh particles at multiple positions.We study the force mechanisms of multiple trapping by analyzing the gradient and scattering forces.It is observed that the wavelength and topological charges of the hybrid vector beam regulate the trapping positions and number of optical trap sites.The proposed method can be implemented easily in three-dimensional space, and it facilitates both trapping and organization of particles.Thus, it can provide an effective and controllable means for nanoparticle manipulation.     

Hydrodynamic binary coalescence of droplets under air flow in a hydrophobic microchannel

Based on the volume of fluid(VOF) method, we conduct a numerical simulation to study the hydrodynamic binary coalescence of droplets under air flow in a hydrophobic rectangular microchannel. Two distinct regimes, coalescence followed by sliding motion and that followed by detaching motion, are identified and discussed. Additionally, the detailed hydrodynamic information behind the binary coalescence is provided, based on which a dynamic mechanical analysis is conducted to reveal the hydrodynamic mechanisms underlying these two regimes. The simulation results indicate that the sliding motion of droplets is driven by the drag force and restrained by the adhesion force induced by the interfacial tension along the main flow direction. The detachment(i.e., upward motion) of the droplet is driven by the lift force associated with an aerodynamic lifting pressure difference imposed on the coalescent droplet, and also restrained by the adhesion force perpendicular to the main flow direction. Especially, the lift force is mainly induced by an aerodynamic lifting pressure difference imposed on the coalescent droplet. Two typical regimes can be quantitatively recognized by a regime diagram depending on Re and We. The higher Re and We respectively lead to relatively larger lift forces and smaller adhesion forces acting on the droplet, both of which are helpful to detachment of the coalesced droplet.     

Atom manipulation with the scanning tunneling microscope: nanostructuring and femtochemistry

We briefly survey our recent studies on the ‘soft’lateral manipulation of atoms and small molecules with the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), whereby mainly the tip–surface forces are employed. Repulsive (pushing) as well as discontinuous (pulling) and continuous (sliding)attractive manipulation modes could be distinguished on Cu(211) for CO molecules and metal atoms, respectively. In the case of pulling of Cu atoms on Cu(111) even finer details could be discerned: the adparticle may show various movement patterns visiting different surface sites upon applying different tip forces. Lateral manipulation also allows modifications of the Cu(211) substrate itself in an atom-by-atom manner by releasing atoms from sixfold coordinated kink sites and even sevenfold coordinated regular step sites. Furthermore, investigations concerning controled vertical manipulation with emphasis on ‘picking-up’ single CO molecules are reported. The mechanism behind vertical transfer of CO molecules relates to ultrafast chemical processes. Vertical manipulation implies, besides extending the possibilities for the build-up of nanostructures, the important possibility of creating structurally and compositionally well-defined tips, which may eventually lead to chemical sensitivity with the STM.     

Effect of Rolling Massage on Particle Moving Behaviour in Blood Vessels

The rolling massage manipulation is a classic Chinese massage, which is expected to eliminate many diseases. Here the effect of the rolling massage on the particle moving property in the blood vessels under the rolling massage manipulation is studied by the lattice Boltzmann simulation. The simulation results show that the particle moving behaviour depends on the rolling velocity, the distance between particle position and rolling position. The average values, including particle translational velocity and angular velocity, increase as the rolling velocity increases almost linearly. The result is helpful to understand the mechanism of the massage and develop the rolling techniques.     

基于离散元方法的颗粒材料缓冲性能及影响因素分析

在冲击荷载作用下, 颗粒材料通过颗粒间的摩擦及非弹性碰撞可有效进行能量耗散实现缓冲作用. 本文采用离散元方法对冲击载荷下颗粒材料的缓冲过程进行数值分析, 研究不同厚度下颗粒材料的缓冲性能. 计算结果表明: 颗粒层厚度H是影响颗粒材料缓冲性能的关键因素, 并存在一个临界厚度H_c. 当H < H_c时, 冲击力随H的增加而降低; 当H > H_c时, 冲击力对H的变化不敏感并趋于稳定值. 此外, 在不同颗粒摩擦系数和初始密集度下对缓冲过程的离散元分析表明, 光滑和疏松颗粒材料具有更好的缓冲性能. 最后, 对颗粒材料在冲击过程中的力链结构和底板的压力分布进行了讨论, 以揭示颗粒材料缓冲性能的内在机理.     

Frictional coupling between sliding and spinning motion

The tangential motion at the contact of two solid objects is studied. It consists of a sliding and a spinning degree of freedom (no rolling). We show that the friction force and torque are inherently coupled. As a simple test system, a sliding and spinning disk on a horizontal flat surface is considered. We calculate, and also measure, how the disk slows down and find that it always stops its sliding and spinning motion at the same moment. We discuss the impact of this coupling between friction force and torque on the physics of granular materials.     

Sliding velocity dependence of adhesion in a nanometer-sized contact

The influence of sliding velocity on the adhesion force in a nanometer-sized contact was investigated with a novel atomic force microscope experimental setup that allows measuring adhesion forces while the probe is sliding at continuous and constant velocities. For hydrophobic surfaces, the adhesion forces (mainly van?der?Waals forces) remain constant, whereas for hydrophilic surfaces, adhesion forces (mainly capillary forces) decrease linearly with a logarithmic increase of the sliding velocity. The experimental data are well explained by a model based on a thermally activated growth process of a capillary meniscus.