Friction Due to Adhesion

An adhesive theory of friction was developed more than half a century ago by Bowden and
Tabor [17]. As discussed already in the chapter on ‘Boundary and Extreme Pressure
Lubrication’, in simple terms, the coefficient of friction is defined as:
μ = τ/py (12.2)
where:
τ is the effective shear stress of the material [Pa];
py is the plastic flow stress (yield pressure) of the material [Pa].
It is argued that the effective shear stress acting on the surface should be close to the bulk
value which is about 0.2 of the yield stress, giving μ = 0.2. If the materials of contacting bodies
differ then the yield stress of the softer material and the shear stress of the weaker material or
the interface shear stress, whichever is the least, are used in equation (12.2).
The highest adhesion occurs between identical metals, whereas bimetallic combinations
exhibit weaker adhesion and therefore lower friction. Heterogeneous materials such as steels
and cast irons often show moderate adhesion because of the interference by inclusions and
non-metallic phases present in their microstructure. Corresponding coefficients of friction
are also lower for these materials.
There are, however, doubts about this adhesive theory of friction and some controversy is
extant in the literature. It has been found that most of the frictional resistance in lubricated or atmospheric conditions is due
to the deformation of asperities rather than the fracture of
adhesive bonds [18]. Frictional forces due to adhesion are dominant when there is a total
absence of lubrication and such circumstances correspond to the original experiments
performed in vacuum [17]. The friction theory in the simple form presented so far implies
that the limiting values of friction are less than unity.