Slip dynamics at a patterned rubber/glass interface during stick-slip motions

We report on an experimental study of heterogeneous slip instabilities generated during stick-slip motions at a contact interface between a smooth rubber substrate and a patterned glass lens. Using a sol-gel process, the glass lens is patterned with a lattice of parallel ridges (wavelength, 1.6 μm, amplitude 0.35 μm). Friction experiments using this patterned surface result in the systematic occurrence of stick-slip motions over three orders of magnitude in the imposed driving velocity while stable friction is achieved with a smooth surface. Using a contact imaging method, real-time displacement fields are measured at the surface of the rubber substrate. Stick-slip motions are found to involve the localized propagation of transverse interface shear cracks whose velocity is observed to be remarkably independent on the driving velocity.     

Modification of rubber surface by UV surface grafting

Rubber surface is subjected to ultraviolet radiation (UV) in the presence of allylamine and radiation sensitizer benzophenone (BP). Fourier transform infrared spectral studies reveal the presence of allylamine on the surface. The presence of irregular needle shapes on the surface as observed in scanning electron micrographs also confirms the polymerized allylamine on the surface. Allylamine coatings have been further confirmed from atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) reveals that allylamine coating on the rubber surface lowers the thermal degradation rate. The contact angle between the water and rubber surface decreases for the modified rubber surface confirming the surface modification due to UV surface grafting.     

Dependence of aerodynamic characteristics and flow pattern on surface structure of a baseball

In this report, the aerodynamic characteristics, such as lift and drag, of an official rubber baseball are studied experimentally by comparing the characteristics of a sphere having a smooth surface and those of spheres having different surface structures. In addition, the flow velocity distribution is measured quantitatively using the spark tracing method. From the obtained results, the flow patterns for these baseballs and the flow mechanism around a sphere have been clarified.     

Force density induced on a sphere in linear hydrodynamics: II. Moving sphere,mixed boundary conditions

The theorems derived in a previous article are employed to calculate the force density induced on a sphere moving in an incompressible fluid in nonstationary flow with mixed stick-slip boundary conditions. As applications we derive expressions of the Faxén type for the total force, the total torque and the symmetric force-dipole moment.     

Adsorption phenomena in the transport of a colloidal particle through a nanochannel containing a partially wetting fluid

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we study the motion of a closely fitting nanometer-size solid sphere in a fluid-filled cylindrical nanochannel at low Reynolds numbers. At early times, when the particle is close to the middle of the tube, its velocity is in agreement with continuum calculations, despite large thermal fluctuations. At later times, partially wetting fluids exhibit novel adsorption phenomena: the sphere meanders away from the center of the tube and adsorbs onto the wall, and subsequently either sticks to the wall and remains motionless on average, or separates slightly from the tube wall and then either slips parallel to the mean flow or executes an intermittent stick-slip motion.     

Self-assembled pattern formation of block copolymers on the surface of the sphere using self-consistent field theory

The spherical surface is spatially discretized with triangular lattices to numerically calculate the Laplace-Beltrami operator contained in the self-consistent field theory (SCFT) equations using a finite volume method. Based on this method we have developed a spherical alternating-direction implicit (ADI) scheme for the first time to help extend real-space implementation of SCFT in 2D flat space to the surface of the sphere. By using this method, we simulate the equilibrium microphase separation morphology of block copolymers including AB diblocks, ABC linear triblocks and ABC star triblock copolymers occurred on the spherical surface. In general, two classes of microphase separation morphologies such as striped patterns for compositionally symmetric block copolymers and spotted patterns for asymmetric compositions have been found. In contrast to microphase separation morphology in 2D flat space, the geometrical characteristics of a sphere has a large influence on the self-assembled morphology. For striped patterns, several of spiral-form and ring-form patterns are found by changing the ratio of the radius of a sphere to the averaging width of the stripes. The specific pattern such as the striped and spotted pattern with intrinsic dislocations or defects stems from formed periodic patterns due to microphase separation of block copolymers arranged on the curved surface.     

Evolution of Voronoi/Delaunay Characterized Micro Structure with Transition from Loose to Dense Sphere Packing

Micro structures of equal sphere packing （ranging from loose to dense packing） generated numerically by discrete element method under different vibration conditions are characterized using Voronoi/Delaunay tessellation, which is applied on a wide range of packing densities. The analysis on micro properties such as the total perimeter, surface area, and the face number distribution of each Voronoi polyhedron, and the pore size distribution in each Voronoi/Delaunay subunit is systematically carried out. The results show that with the increasing density of sphere packing, the Voronoi//Delaunay pore size distribution is narrowed. That indicates large pores to be gradually substituted by small uniformed ones during densification. Meanwhile, the distributions of face number, total per/meter, and surface area of Voronoi polyhedra at high packing densities tend to be narrower and higher, which is in good agreement with those in random loose packing.     

Effect of air-jet texturing on adhesion behaviour of polyester yarns to rubber

Air-jet texturing of conventional poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) yarns, having the same chemical structure with high modulus and tenacity PET yarns, are studied in order to improve their adhesion to rubber. Air-jet texturing of these yarns is performed without any visible loop formation in order to minimize the mechanical loss, and an improvement in the adhesion to rubber of conventional PET yarns is achieved. This improvement is investigated by means of surface changes of single filaments and yarn geometry changes due to air-jet texturing. Changes of the cross-sectional structure of the yarns after air-jet texturing and therefore a higher surface area is found to be the main reason for this improvement.     

含有周期球腔的黏弹性覆盖层消声性能分析

利用散射矩阵法分析了单个球状空腔在黏弹性橡胶中的Mie散射特性以及振动模式.以此为基础，利用多重散射法分析了不同背衬条件下，含有单层周期球状空腔的橡胶覆盖层(厚度为8mm)的消声性能.结果表明，单个球腔的径向共振对覆盖层的低频消声性能有重要贡献，覆盖薄层在共振区具有良好的消声性能.最后，设计了双层消声覆盖层(厚度为20mm)，有效拓展了消声带宽. 关键词： Mie散射 多重散射法 消声材料 声子晶体     

A Noncommutative Regulation of the Schwinger Model

We start from a realization of the enveloping algebra U(u (2|1)) and a sequences of embeddings of su(2) representations. We define the Schwinger model on a noncommutative sphere S² in this setting, and obtain an ultraviolet regularized model. The effective actions and the chiral anomaly are calculated. Standard results are obtained in the commutative limit.     

Random motion with interfacial contact: Driven diffusion vis-à-vis mechanical activation

Rolling of a small sphere on a patterned support of an elastomer is governed by a non-linear friction. No motion occurs when the external field is weaker than the frictional resistance. However, with the intervention of an external noise, a viscous friction like behavior emerges; thus the sphere rolls with a uniform drift velocity that is proportional to the applied field. At a very low noise strength, the sphere exhibits a stick-slip behavior with motion occurring always along the bias. With the increase in the noise strength, the sphere exhibits a diffusive drift accompanied with forward and backward displacements. During this stage of driven diffusive motion, the ratio of the integrated probabilities of the negative-to-positive work fluctuations decreases monotonically with the time of observation, from which a temperature like intensive parameter can be estimated. This parameter conforms to Einstein's ratio of diffusivity and mobility that increases almost linearly, even though the diffusivity increases super-linearly, with the strength of the noise. A new barrier crossing experiment is introduced that can be performed either with a hard (e.g. a steel ball) or with a soft (e.g. a water drop) sphere in contact with a periodically undulated substrate. The frequency of barrier crossing follows a transition state equation allowing a direct estimation of the effective temperature. These experiments as well as certain numerical simulations suggest that the effective temperature of a system controlled by a non-linear friction may not have a unique value.     

Kinetics and dynamics of frictional stick-slip in mesoscopic boundary lubrication

The kinetics and dynamics of frictional stick-slip motion of a slider of size extending from mesoscopic upward is analyzed within the framework of a multi-contact, earthquake-like model. The microscopic contacts are characterized by a distribution of static thresholds for individual breaking. The condition for an overall elastic instability leading to stick-slip sliding are derived and details of the slip motion are studied theoretically. The crucial model parameters emerging from this analysis include the delay time for each micro-contact to reform after breaking, the strength of elastic interaction between the contacts, the elasticity of contacts and of the slider, and the distribution of static thresholds for their breaking. The dynamics is also studied with the help of a scaling procedure. As a prototype application, we adopt parameters appropriate to describe recent surface force apparatus (SFA) boundary lubrication experiments. Despite suggestions of extremely large lubricant viscosities, the experimental data are shown to be fully compatible with ordinary, bulk-like viscosity values once the multi-contact aspects are taken into account.     

Modeling of the dolphin’s clicking sound source: The influence of the critical parameters

A physical and a mathematical models of the dolphin’s source of echolocation clicks have been recently proposed. The physical model includes a bottle of pressurized air connected to the atmosphere with an underwater rubber tube. A compressing rubber ring is placed on the underwater portion of the tube. The ring blocks the air jet passing through the tube from the bottle. This ring can be brought into self-oscillation by the air jet. In the simplest case, the ring displacement follows a repeated triangular waveform. Because the acoustic pressure gradient is proportional to the second time derivative of the displacement, clicks arise at the bends of the displacement waveform. The mathematical model describes the dipole oscillations of a sphere “frozen” in the ring and calculates the waveform and the sound pressure of the generated clicks. The critical parameters of the mathematical model are the radius of the sphere and the peak value and duration of the triangular displacement curve. This model allows one to solve both the forward (deriving the properties of acoustic clicks from the known source parameters) and the inverse (calculating the source parameters from the acoustic data) problems. Data from click records of Odontocetes were used to derive both the displacement waveforms and the size of the “frozen sphere” or a structure functionally similar to it. The mathematical model predicts a maximum source level of up to 235 dB re 1 μPa at 1-m range when using a 5-cm radius of the “frozen” sphere and a 4-mm maximal displacement. The predicted sound pressure level is similar to that of the clicks produced by Odontocetest.     

Random motion with interfacial contact: Driven diffusion vis-à-vis mechanical activation

Rolling of a small sphere on a patterned support of an elastomer is governed by a non-linear friction. No motion occurs when the external field is weaker than the frictional resistance. However, with the intervention of an external noise, a viscous friction like behavior emerges; thus the sphere rolls with a uniform drift velocity that is proportional to the applied field. At a very low noise strength, the sphere exhibits a stick-slip behavior with motion occurring always along the bias. With the increase in the noise strength, the sphere exhibits a diffusive drift accompanied with forward and backward displacements. During this stage of driven diffusive motion, the ratio of the integrated probabilities of the negative-to-positive work fluctuations decreases monotonically with the time of observation, from which a temperature like intensive parameter can be estimated. This parameter conforms to Einstein??s ratio of diffusivity and mobility that increases almost linearly, even though the diffusivity increases super-linearly, with the strength of the noise. A new barrier crossing experiment is introduced that can be performed either with a hard (e.g. a steel ball) or with a soft (e.g. a water drop) sphere in contact with a periodically undulated substrate. The frequency of barrier crossing follows a transition state equation allowing a direct estimation of the effective temperature. These experiments as well as certain numerical simulations suggest that the effective temperature of a system controlled by a non-linear friction may not have a unique value.     

Investigation of Carbon Black Network in Natural Rubber with Different Bound Rubber Contents

A new method was applied to modify the surface activity of virginal carbon black (VCB). LA‐57, one kind of hindered amine light stabilizer, was adsorbed onto the carbon black surface through a strong shear force induced by the screws of a HAAKE internal mixer. The modified carbon black (MCB) was characterized by FT‐IR and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The bound rubber content of the natural rubber (NR) compounded with MCB and VCB varied with the fraction of LA‐57 on the MCB surface. The nonlinear effect at small strains, generally referred as the Payne effect, was investigated in the rubber compounds based on the different bound rubber contents. The NR compound containing the lowest bound rubber content had an obvious Payne effect. Based on the bound rubber content, the types of filler network varied from direct contact mode to the joint rubber shell mechanism.     

Peptide friction in water nanofilm on mica surface

Peptide frictions in water nanofilms of various thicknesses on a mica surface are studied via molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the forced lateral motion of the peptide exhibits stick-slip behaviour at low water coverage; in contrast, the smooth gliding motion is observed at higher water coverage. The adsorbed peptide can form direct peptide-surface hydrogen bonds as well as indirect peptide-water-surface hydrogen bonds with the substrate. We propose that the stick-slip phenomenon is attributed to the overall effects of direct and indirect hydrogen bonds formed between the surface and the peptide.     

Stress fluctuations and macroscopic stick-slip in granular materials

This paper deals with the quasi-static regime of deformation of granular matter. It investigates the size of the Representative Elementary Volume (REV), which is the minimum packing size above which the macroscopic mechanical behaviour of granular materials can be defined from averaging. The first part uses typical results from recent literature and finds that the minimum REV contains in general 10 grains; this result holds true either for most experiments or for Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulation. This appears to be quite small. However, the second part gives a counterexample, which has been found when investigating uniaxial compression of glass spheres which exhibit stick-slip; we show in this case that the minimum REV becomes 10⁷ grains. This makes the system not computable by DEM. Moreover, similarity between the Richter law of seism and the exponential statistics of stick-slip is stressed. Received 8 March 2002 and Received in final form 12 July 2002     

Contact mechanics modeling of piezo-actuated stick-slip microdrives

This paper draws a line from early attempts of modeling stick-slip microdrives to open questions from today’s research. As a basis, it contains a collection of substantial investigations on piezo-actuated stick-slip microdrives for nanomanipulation purposes. Friction models showing special characteristics and their mathematical representations are reviewed. It is found that the working properties of stick-slip drives strongly depend on friction characteristics of the contact points between the guiding elements, which is known for years. However, numerous publications in the field of friction and remaining problems — which cannot be explained by known friction models — indicate that there is a demand for even more friction-related research.Former attempts to model stick-slip drives are based on the so-called LuGre friction model, which is shortly presented. An empirical model called CEIM is also analyzed. It is an adaption of the elastoplastic model. The latter can cover not only the phenomenon “0-amplitude’ (described by the authors in recent publications), but also stick-slip based force generation scenarios. Nevertheless, interesting friction characteristics such as the generation of μN forces with stick-slip drives, which are already proven, cannot be covered by known friction models. It is pointed out which characteristics have to be considered.     

Interface effect in the silicone rubber/mineral powder composites

Silicone rubber/mineral powder composites have been prepared by surface modification and ultrafinecrashing of mineral powder, mixing and vulcanizing with silicone rubber resin. The surface and interface energy for mineral filler and silicone rubber matrix were investigated. It was found that there is a correlation between W _a/σ_SL (interfacial adhesive work/interfacial tension) and the tensile strength of the corresponding composite, especially for unmodified ultrafine mineral filler. On the other hand, the chemical modification of the surface changes the surface group on the mineral filler and results in improvement of the interfacial interaction between silicone rubber matrix and mineral filler, consequently, altering the reinforcing effect of the mineral filler.     

Single-walled carbon nanotube fibers, films and balls

Well-defined fibers and films of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with high purity and narrow diameter distributions were obtained from the strand-like raw soot produced by a dc arc-discharge method. These architectures made up of SWNTs have very uniform smooth surfaces. When the strand-like product was placed on a silicon substrate, dipped into water, treated ultrasonically, and then dried in air, another interesting architecture, an SWNT ball, was obtained. This ball-like structure could also be found on the surface of purified SWNTs. We propose that the surface tension of water and the interaction between SWNTs and silica sphere played the key role in the ball (SWNTs outside and silica sphere inside) formation process.