Molecular dynamics study of contact mechanics: contact area and interfacial separation from small to full contact

摘要

We report a molecular dynamics study of the contact between a rigid solidwith a randomly rough surface and an elastic block with a flat surface. Westudy the contact area and the interfacial separation from small contact (lowload) to full contact (high load). For small load the contact area varieslinearly with the load and the interfacial separation depends logarithmicallyon the load. For high load the contact area approaches to the nominal contactarea (i.e., complete contact), and the interfacial separation approaches tozero. The present results may be very important for soft solids, e.g., rubber,or for very smooth surfaces, where complete contact can be reached at moderatehigh loads without plastic deformation of the solids.