Citation

Persson BN, Tartaglino U, Albohr O, Tosatti E. Nat. Mater. 2004; 3(12): 882-885.

Affiliation

IFF, FZ-Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1038/nmat1255

PMID

15531886

Abstract

Loss of braking power and rubber skidding on a wet road is still an open physics problem, as neither the hydrodynamic effects nor the loss of surface adhesion that are sometimes blamed really manage to explain the 20-30% observed loss of low-speed tyre-road friction. Here we report a novel mechanism based on sealing of water-filled substrate pools by the rubber. The sealed-in water effectively smoothens the substrate, thus reducing the viscoelastic dissipation in bulk rubber induced by surface asperities-well established as a major friction contribution. Starting with the measured spectrum of asperities one can calculate the water-smoothened spectrum and from that the predicted friction reduction, which is of the correct magnitude. The theory is directly supported by fresh tyre-asphalt friction data.

Language: en