Abstract
We study the friction when a rectangular tire tread rubber block is sliding on an ice surface at different temperatures ranging from −38 to −2 °C, and sliding speeds ranging from 3 µm/s to 1 cm/s. At low temperatures and low sliding speeds we propose that an important contribution to the friction force is due to slip between the ice surface and ice fragments attached to the rubber surface. At temperatures above −10 °C or for high enough sliding speeds, a thin premelted water film occurs on the ice surface and the contribution to the friction from shearing the area of real contact is small. In this case the dominant contribution to the friction force comes from viscoelastic deformations of the rubber by the ice asperities. We comment on the role of waxing on the friction between skis and snow (ice particles).
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Acknowledgements
We thank A. ALMQVIST and R. LARSSON (Luleå Technical University, Sweden) for comments on the text and for useful discussions.
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Toshio TADA. He is a general manager working for Sumitomo Rubber industries, Ltd. in Japan. His original field of expertise is polymer rheology and polymer physics. His expertise covers friction, wear, fracture, and continuum mechanics of elastomers, based on experience of manager of material testing for over 15 years. He received his Ph.D. degree of engineering of Kyoto university, Japan, in 1998.
Satoshi KAWASAKI. He received his M.S. degree of engineering of Osaka university, Japan, in 2005. He has been working for Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. in Japan since 2005. He is a manager responsible for friction mechanics of rubber.
Ryouske SHIMIZU. He received his M.S. degree of engineering of Kyoto university, Japan, in 2018. He has been working for Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. In Japan since 2018. He is responsible for friction mechanics of rubber, especially on ice.
Bo N.J. PERSSON. He is a research scientist at the Research Center Jülich, and CEO of Multiscale Consulting, a company specialized on consulting about contact mechanics problems like rubber friction, adhesion and leakage of seals. He got his Ph.D. degree in “Dynamical Processes at Surfaces” in 1980 but has worked on tribology problems since 1994. He is the author of “Sliding Friction: Physical Principles and Applications” (Springer, 1998, 2000) and coauthor with Prof. VOLOKITIN on “Electromagnetic Fluctuations at the Nanoscale” (Springer, 2017).
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Tada, T., Kawasaki, S., Shimizu, R. et al. Rubber-ice friction. Friction 11, 1534–1543 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-022-0715-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-022-0715-5