Irregularities present on a surface are often described as surface roughness or texture. These surface textures such as grooves and dimples impart friction, which is the force between two sliding ...

Topological insulators are innovative materials that conduct electricity on the surface, but act as insulators on the inside. Physicists have begun investigating how they react to friction. Their ...

Electrically tunable ionic hydrogels use small voltages to switch friction at metal contacts between high-friction and ...

A research team led by CU Boulder has designed a new kind of synthetic “skin” as slippery as the scales of a snake. The research, published recently in the American Chemical Society journal Applied ...

Mountaire Farms’ agricultural food production and processing facilities near Lumber Bridge, N.C., has its share of heavy, 18-wheeler traffic. The number of vehicles entering and exiting the facilities ...

A cook's reaction to cockroaches in the kitchen is a good approximation of a physicist's reaction to friction: not only is it undesirable, it is hard to get rid of. OK, our analogy falls at a last ...

Testing of lubricants and surfaces on reciprocating systems, like linear compressors and engines, traditionally involves the use of large-scale tribometers before final component testing. This article ...

Fig. 3: These conveyor belt rollers experience rolling contact fatigue during operation. Including plastic components in machinery systems that experience friction and wear results in a number of ...

A new analysis of the 2018 collapse of Kilauea volcano's caldera helps to confirm the reigning scientific paradigm for how friction works on earthquake faults. The model quantifies the conditions ...

A bright orange truck made a few passes along Munger Shaw Road on Friday. It’s called SCRIM, and it’s a road survey machine that tests friction of pavement and surfaces. SCRIM stands for Sideway force ...