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A Perspective on the Frictional Properties of Soft Materials as Smart Applications

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Handbook of Smart Materials, Technologies, and Devices

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Abstract

Soft solids such as hydrogels and elastomers have found many applications in smart materials and devices ranging from robotics, drug delivery, adhesives to shock absorbers. These are generally characterized by the presence of fluid/air in their three dimensional molecular structures and also possess the ability to undergo large scale deformation. When a soft block is sheared past on a hard substrate, it shows stick-slip motion in the form of periodic drop and rise of frictional stress as well as corresponding shear velocity. However, sliding motion becomes smooth at the critical velocity and steady sliding follows. In this book chapter, static, dynamic, and residual stresses of the gelatin hydrogels are studied with slide-hold-slide friction experiments on soft gelatin hydrogels. It is observed that static and dynamic frictions increase with shear rate, but residual stress remains independent of shear velocity. Friction models, based on the population balance of bond formation and rupture at the sliding interface, have also been proposed to explain the aforementioned frictional properties. Validity of the friction models is discussed in view of the proposed scaling laws from the friction experiments. At the end, possible applications of the present study in development of smart materials and systems are also discussed.

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Abbreviations

c :

Gelatin concentration in hydrogel

G :

Shear modulus (kPa)

K b :

Bulk stiffness

k B :

Stefan-Boltzmann constant

ΔLm:

Finitely extensible length

\( \Delta {\hat{L}}_m \) :

Dimensionless finitely extensible length

m :

Mass (kg)

M wc :

Molecular weight between cross-links

M :

Stiffness of dangling chains

N 0 :

Total number of chains at a sliding interface

N(t):

Chain density

N i :

Initial no. of chains

\( \hat{N} \) :

Dimensionless chain density

r s :

Stiffness ratio

r f :

Rate of bond formation

r b :

Rate of bond rupture

t w :

Waiting time (s)

t :

Time (s)

\( \hat{t} \) :

Dimensionless time

t ws :

Transition time from weak to strong bond (s)

t wsw :

Dimensionless transition time from weak to strong bond

t a :

Aging time (s)

T :

Absolute temperature (K)

u :

Adhesion constant for weak bond

u s :

Adhesion constant for strong bond

V cr :

Critical transition velocity (mm s−1)

V c :

Creep velocity (mm s−1)

V ∗ :

Characteristic velocity for weak bond (mm s−1)

\( \hat{V} \) :

Dimensionless velocity

V s ∗ :

Characteristic velocity for strong bond (mm s−1)

V 0 :

Shear velocity (mm s−1)

W adh :

Work of adhesion

X :

Attached bond fraction

σ ∗ :

Characteristic stress for weak bond (kPa)

\( \hat{\sigma} \) :

Dimensionless stress

ρ :

Bulk density (kg m−3)

ξ :

Mesh size (nm)

β :

Ratio of characteristic velocity for weak to strong bond

λ :

Activation length for weak bond (m)

λ s :

Activation length for strong bond (m)

λ ws :

Ratio of activation length for weak to strong bond

τ :

Relaxation time constant for weak bond (s)

γ :

Viscous retardation coefficient

\( \hat{\gamma} \) :

Dimensionless viscous retardation coefficient

σ s ∗ :

Characteristic stress for strong bond (kPa)

τ s :

Relaxation time constant for strong bond (s)

τ ws :

Ratio of relaxation time constant for weak to strong bond

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the MHRD, Government of India for granting funds under TEQIP-II to establish the experimental facility at VNIT Nagpur. We are also thankful to Professor V.A. Juvekar, IIT Bombay for his invaluable suggestions in the present study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, S.B. Jain Institute of Technology, Management and Research, Nagpur, India

    Vinit Gupta

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India

    Arun K. Singh

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, G.H. Raisoni Institute of Business Management, Jalgaon, India

    Nitish Sinha

  4. Advance Separation and Analytical Laboratory (ASAL), Department of Chemical Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur, India

    Kailas L. Wasewar

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  1. Vinit Gupta
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  2. Arun K. Singh
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA

    Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain

  2. School of Science, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Paolo Di Sia

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Gupta, V., Singh, A.K., Sinha, N., Wasewar, K.L. (2022). A Perspective on the Frictional Properties of Soft Materials as Smart Applications. In: Hussain, C.M., Di Sia, P. (eds) Handbook of Smart Materials, Technologies, and Devices. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84205-5_155

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