Bio-bearings: Numerical Model of the Solid Lubricant in the Leg Joints of Insects
А. Е. Филиппов, Konstantin Nadein, Stanislav N. Gorb, Alexander Kovalev
Abstract
Abstract The proposed model describes the behavior of the lubricant particles at the interface between two surfaces for a group of cylindrical semi-solid lubricant fragments observed in a real beetle leg joint. It is shown that the lubricant particles may maintain a gap between joint surfaces at load. At the regular shear motion, such randomly oriented particles are reorienting perpendicular to the shear and function as a rolling bearing: the system demonstrates the lowest energy loss and lowest friction. At an increased load, the friction non-linearly increases, because of an increase of the particles’ eccentricity. Finally, at some load, the particle rotation stops, friction switches from the rolling to the sliding regime and increases significantly.