Moving heat in nanocontacts: Nanoscale investigations show how roughness affects thermal transport across interfaces

摘要

THE REMOVAL OF HEAT from a sliding interface is an important issue in tribology. Asperity-asperity contact can lead to locally high temperatures that influence additive reactions with surfaces and wear behavior. Surprisingly, though, the way in which heat moves across rough surfaces is remarkably poorly understood. Given that tribological contact occurs between micrometer- or nanometer-scale asperities, these are actually the relevant scales on which to scrutinize heat transfer across an interface.