Molecular dynamics simulations as a way to investigate the local physics of contact mechanics: a comparison between experimental data and numerical results

M Solar and H Meyer and C Gauthier and O Benzerara and H Pelletier and R Schirrer and J Baschnagel, JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS, 43, 455406 (2010).

DOI: 10.1088/0022-3727/43/45/455406

In this work, a mechanical analysis of normal contact using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations is presented. Conical indentation on amorphous polymer surfaces was simulated at various temperatures and indentation rates under displacement or load control. The results are qualitatively compared with experimental data from tests on epoxy materials with different glass transition temperatures (T-g), and show good agreement with experiments. Moreover, MD simulations of nano-indentation tests allow us to estimate the mechanical properties of the polymer films studied as in experimental nano-indentation tests, which demonstrates the relevance of this approach.

Return to Publications page