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Tribological Studies of Nanostructure Evolution and Transport in Nanolubricants
During sliding of two surfaces past each other, the surface and subsurface material can evolve new microstructures and chemistries that are far from equilibrium; a study of the formation of these features in the tribolayer and their further evolution demands tools that go beyond the deformation behaviour of the individual components. We propose to probe tribological interactions between ductile materials using large scale classical and non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations; we expect this research to lead to a fundamental understanding -- the relative contribution of vorticity and dynamic deformation, and the role of prior crystalline defects -- into the mechanisms leading to the nano crystalline layer formation. We will also address the issue of thermal transport through nanofluid lubricants that find applications in MEMS and NEMS devices. In order to identify mechanisms of frictional dissipation and thermal transport in nanofluids, and the parameter regimes in which they operate, we will use classical molecular dynamics simulations |