Ice breakloose friction

Abstract

We discuss the origin of the breakloose (or static) friction force when an ice block is slid on a hard randomly rough substrate surface. If the substrate has roughness with small enough amplitude (of order a 1 nm or less), the breakloose force may be due to interfacial slip and is determined by the elastic energy per unit area, Uel/A0, stored at the interface after the block has been displaced a short distance from its original position. The theory assumes complete contact between the solids at the interface and that there is no elastic deformation energy at the interface in the original state before the application of the tangential force. The breakloose force depends on the surface roughness power spectrum of the substrate and is found to be in good agreement with experimental observations. We show that as the temperature decreases, there is a transition from interfacial sliding (mode II crack propagation, where the crack propagation energy GII = Uel/A0) to opening crack propagation (mode I crack propagation with GI the energy per unit area to break the ice–substrate bonds in the normal direction).