Plastic–elastic Model for Water-based Lubrication Considering Surface Force

Abstract Water-based lubrication is an effective method to achieve superlubricity, which implies a friction coefficient in the order of 10−3 or lower. Recent numerical, analytical, and experimental studies confirm that the surface force effect is crucial for realizing water-based superlubricity. To enhance the contribution of the surface force, soft and plastic materials can be utilized as friction pair materials because of their effect in increasing the contact area. A new numerical model of water-based lubrication that considers the surface force between plastic and elastic materials is developed in this study to investigate the effect of plastic flow in water-based lubrication. Considering the complexity of residual stress accumulation in lubrication problems, a simplified plastic model is proposed, which merely calculates the result of the dry contact solution and avoids repeated calculations of the plastic flow. The results of the two models show good agreement. Plastic deformation reduces the local contact pressure and enhances the function of the surface force, thus resulting in a lower friction coefficient.