Ronen Berkovich

Friction Force Microscopy (FFM) measurements on NaCl immersed in ethanol display an increase of the effective contact stiffness with the applied load. This stiffness is estimated from the measured local contact interaction of the tip with the NaCl surface and the Prandtl–Tomlinson (PT) parameter, which reflects the relation between the corrugation stiffness and the effective contact stiffness. Different from FFM measurements in ultrahigh vacuum, for measurements in ethanol surroundings the PT parameters showed a maximum with the applied load. We incorporated this measured load-dependent effective stiffness together with the load-dependent amplitude of the corrugation energy into simulations based on the PT model, and studied its effect on the lateral friction for symmetric 1D and 2D potentials, as well as for an asymmetric 1D potentials. The simulations reproduced the experimentally observed non-monotonous behavior of the PT parameter, and enabled a glimpse on the relation of the characteristic observables (mean maximal slip forces and stiffness) with respect to their governing parameters (corrugation energy, effective stiffness). In all, apart from large deviations from symmetry in the interaction potential, the PT parameter provides a reliable estimate for nanoscale friction over periodic surfaces. Graphic Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].