Friction and Adhesion Hysteresis between Surfactant Monolayers in Water

Authors: Briscoe, Wuge H.¹; Klein, Jacob²

Source: Journal of Adhesion, Volume 83, Number 7, July 2007 , pp. 705-722(18)

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Abstract:

We briefly review the model that correlates friction between two surfaces in adhesive contact with the loading-unloading adhesion hysteresis between them. We then examine in light of this model the observed low friction between two mica surfaces coated with a double-chained quaternary ammonium surfactant in intimate adhesive contact in water. This enables us to propose a mechanism for surfactant boundary lubrication in water that is rather different from the classic boundary lubrication in air: in this mechanism, adhesion takes place at the interface between the opposing surfactant hydrocarbon tails, whereas frictional sliding takes place at the interface between the hydrated surfactant headgroups and mica. The implications of our findings to biolubrication processes are discussed.

Keywords: Adhesion hysteresis; Aqueous boundary lubrication; Biolubrication; Friction under water; Hydration layers; Slip-plane shift; Surface forces; Surfactant monolayers

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00218460701490363

Affiliations: 1: Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom 2: Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom,Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Publication date: 2007-07-01