Insight into large deformation contacts of soft polymers with molecular dynamcis simulations

<hb:p>The size of the real contact area between mating materials represents a crucial quantity in the context of all tribological problems. Consequently, it is a topic that has been the subject of intensive investigation. Nevertheless, the subject of contact formation with soft polymers remains largely uninvestigated. Soft polymers are frequently employed as foils or coatings, thereby influencing the surface characteristics of a vast variety of everyday products. Employed at temperatures above their glass transition point, soft polymers with low values of the Young’s modulus, permit significant deformation during contact formation. To assess the impact of such large deformations on the size of the real contact area, atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of nanoindentation tests have been conducted. Depending on the material properties and loading conditions, the formation of the contact area was observed across the entire range of indentation depths.</hb:p>