Finite Element Modeling of Sliding Contact Between Rough Surfaces

Friction and wear are critical issues in mechanical design and manufacturing. As these mechanisms originate at the asperity level, research models increasingly attempt to capture the influence of surface roughness. In this paper, we study the sliding contact between two rough surfaces. We choose silicon as a model material for its wide use in MEMS applications. We implement an update master/slave contact algorithm accounting for periodic boundary conditions. The obtained results shine new light on the link between small-scale contact clusters and frictional forces and wear mechanisms at the large scale.