Researchers from the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have created a new combination material from graphene and diamonds that's able to almost entirely overcome friction. The property, known as superlubricity, is highly sought after for its potential use in a wide range of mechanical systems.
Zooming down to an atomic level, friction is caused by atoms locking together, making it difficult for them to pass over one another. It's like sliding the bases of two egg cartons over one another. They'll often get entangled together during the process.
In an attempt to create a material that all but eliminates this effect, the small team of researchers combined three key building blocks – diamond nanoparticles, a diamond-like carbon surface and numerous small patches of graphene.
[...] Combining the three materials, the Argonne National Laboratory researchers observed the graphene patches interacting with the diamond nanoparticles as they rubbed up against the diamond-like carbon surface. In essence, the graphene rolled itself around the diamond particles to create tiny ball bearing-like structures, which the researchers call nanoscrolls.
Is there anything graphene can't do?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by AnonymousCowardNoMore on Sunday June 14 2015, @05:20PM
Zooming down to an atomic level, friction is caused by atoms locking together, making it difficult for them to pass over one another. It's like sliding the bases of two egg cartons over one another. They'll often get entangled together during the process.
That certainly plays a part in friction. However my understanding of more recent theory [amasci.com] is that in most cases, kinetic friction is dominated by cold-welding between the two surfaces rather than by asperities. The problem with the theory, as I interpret it, is that a rolling surface should experience high friction just as if it were dragged around. Perhaps I'm missing something obvious.
More directly on topic: It is interesting to note that carbon is already used for low-friction surfaces. Those types of cast iron which contain significant amounts of graphite are traditionally used to make lubricant-free bearings.