Abstract
The dynamics of friction have been studied for hundreds of years, yet many aspects of these everyday processes are not understood. One such aspect is the onset of frictional motion (slip). First described more than 200 years ago as the transition from static to dynamic friction, the onset of slip is central to fields as diverse as physics, tribology, mechanics of earthquakes and fracture. Here we show that the onset of frictional slip is governed by three different types of coherent crack-like fronts: these are observed by real-time visualization of the net contact area that forms the interface separating two blocks of like material. Two of these fronts, which propagate at subsonic and intersonic velocities, have been the subject of intensive recent interest. We show that a third type of front, which propagates an order of magnitude more slowly, is the dominant mechanism for the rupture of the interface. No overall motion (sliding) of the blocks occurs until either of the slower two fronts traverses the entire interface.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1005-1009 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Nature |
| Volume | 430 |
| Issue number | 7003 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 26 Aug 2004 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgements We acknowledge and thank P. Coleman, E. Demler, M. Franz, J. E. Hoffman, P. A. Lee, K. Machida, K. McElroy, D. Pines, S. Sachdev, T. Senthil, T. Timusk, M. Vojta and J. Zaanen for discussions and communications. This work was supported by the ONR, NSF, MEXT, JST and NEDO. C.L. acknowledges support from a NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship and Y.K. from a JPSJ Research Fellowship for Young Scientists.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgements We thank Z. Reches, A. Sagy and M. Shay for comments. This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation.