Current trends in the physics of nanoscale friction

Abstract

Tribology, which studies surfaces in contact and relative motion, includes friction, wear, and lubrication, straddling across different fields: mechanical engineering, materials science, chemistry, nanoscience, and physics. This short review restricts to the last two disciplines, with a qualitative survey of a small number of recent progress areas in the physics of nanofriction.

Keywords

• Nanotribology
• friction and dissipative processes
• condensed matter physics