Let us move on to our next chapter on Friction.

In common usage of the word friction, even in

relationships, when we say there is friction, we use it in a negative connotation; we are not using it in a
positive connotation.
If you ask the question whether friction is a bane or a boon, you find that friction is needed in certain
applications. Even for you to walk, you need friction. I have shown this on a glass floor; if somebody
walks, you have to walk very carefully. That is what you see here. Without friction, you cannot walk.
And, if you go to your simple ‘atta chakki’; this is driven by belt drives, and these belt drives employ
friction. So, in such applications, friction is beneficial.
Friction is also beneficial in another application that deals with the braking system. So, when you apply
the brake, because of the friction, the wheel comes to a stop. There are many applications where
friction is needed for our own good.
There are also many other situations where friction is undesirable. You know, lots of money is spent on
lubrication. This is the IC engine used in automobiles, and you have millions of automobiles, they all
use oil to minimize the friction between the cylinder and the piston. And, you also have several
applications of journal bearings where oil separates metal-to-metal contact between the shaft and the
bearing. If you go and see a machine in the workshop, you would see a lot of oil is used to lubricate
the systems involved. And here you also have a system where this is pumped like this, and you have a
worm and worm wheel; that assembly is literally flooded with oil to remove the frictional effects.
This is one example. You also have another example; this is a quick-return mechanism of a shaper, and
it is literally in oil. It is a pool of oil here. We will also have an occasion to solve this quick-return
mechanism when we see dynamics. So, in all these applications, you find that you need to minimize
the effect of friction. You achieve this by having a medium of oil to solve your frictional issues.
We have also seen earlier when we studied support conditions; when I have a pin-joint, it restrains
translation in two directions. You have two reactions; the force is unknown and the direction is
unknown. So, you have essentially two unknowns. We also saw frictionless thin bearings; here again,
the direction as well as the magnitude are not known - you have two unknowns. Extending this, you
have in the case of rough surfaces in contact; the rough surfaces are shown highly exaggerated, you
have two forces, a normal force and a frictional force.
In all problems dealing with friction, one of the challenges is to find out what is the actual direction of
the frictional force. And, from the laws of dry friction, when the motion is impending, it is possible for
you to write the frictional force from the equations of friction. In all other cases, you will have to
determine these forces only based on the free body diagram of the component under consideration,
which we will emphasize and see later.
What are the classifications of friction? It can be broadly classified as external and internal. In external
friction, I will have static friction and dynamic friction. In internal friction, I have fluid friction as well as
solid friction.
What do you call external friction? The interaction between surfaces of two solid bodies in contact.
This can be static friction or dynamic friction. In static friction, the surfaces are at rest, but there is a
tendency for relative motion. See, only when there is a tendency for relative motion, frictional forces
come into play. Until then, frictional forces do not come into play. And, in dynamic friction, the
surfaces are in relative motion.
In earlier books, you would also find the term kinetic friction. The current practice is to do away with
kinetic friction, and embody all that we have discussed under the term dynamic friction. That is the
new terminology that is accepted.
Before we get into the details of external friction, let us have some brief discussion on fluid friction as
well as solid friction. This is developed between fluid elements when adjacent layers in a fluid are
moving at different velocities. This is possible only when you have the metal-to-metal contact
completely separated by your lubricating oil.
What is interesting here is that the frictional force developed is proportional to the relative velocity
between the layers, and the fluid’s viscosity. It is also interesting to note that in your course related to
physics, you are already exposed to certain aspects of friction, and you might have also heard the
frictional force is proportional to the normal reaction. From Newton’s third law, you have also learned
force is proportional to the acceleration; related to the acceleration. So, in the case of dry friction, you
find the frictional force is directly proportional to the acceleration. In the case of fluid friction, it is
proportional to relative velocity. And, we would see later, in the case of solid friction, the frictional
force is related to displacement. This is very interesting.
Fluid friction is useful in problems of flow through pipes or orifices, bodies immersed in fluids,
lubricated surfaces, and so on. This is also called viscous friction. Fluid friction appears as frictional
drag, which is seen in the design of automobiles. India is also going in for a high-speed train. If you
look at the streamlined body contour of the engine; this is essentially done to minimize the frictional
drag. Also, in the case of sports, if you look at cycling in the Olympics, the participants are competing
with each other, and they can have an edge over the competitor if he or she wears appropriate
clothing. The dress is designed based on frictional aspects, and if they reduce the frictional drag from
that, they may have an edge of the order of 0.1 seconds compared to the competitors.
Another interesting aspect is that in vibration studies, you use damping as viscous damping. This is
used in aerodynamics as frictional drag in aerodynamics and as viscous damping in vibration studies.
In vibration study, I have a spring and dash-pot. The dash-pot has viscous fluid, and you find the
amplitudes reduce rapidly because of the viscous damper. This is the case of a shaft running in a
journal bearing, completely separated by a fluid film. This develops a maximum pressure slightly to the
left. This is where it develops a maximum pressure; there is no metal-to-metal contact, fluid completely
separates it. In such a case, in well-lubricated applications, you have to employ only fluid friction for
analysis.
You also have the other application. This is the quick-return mechanism of a shaper; this is almost in a
bath of oil. In fact, it is a very big subject by itself. Tribology is the name of the subject. Engineers are
trained on how to circulate viscous oil to all the components in the engine. With space applications,
how to handle microgravity and zero gravity applications are also becoming very important. You also
have journals that deal with wear. So, it is not a trivial aspect. One has to handle friction very carefully.
It is also surprising, when solid materials are subjected to cyclic loading, one comes across the impact
of solid friction. Energy is dissipated internally within the material; that is why it comes under the
category of internal friction. For example, if you put an oscillating spring in a vacuum, it comes to rest
on its own. The moment you put it in a vacuum, you make sure that there is no frictional drag because
of the surrounding air. So, that is eliminated. When there is no retarding effect visibly, you imagine if
you disturb the spring, it would continue forever. It does not happen. Even in vacuum, this spring
comes to rest.
The energy dissipated per cycle is independent of the frequency over a wide range of frequencies, and
is proportional to the square of the amplitude of vibration. So, it is interesting to note, frictional force
is proportional to the displacement. This is what I mentioned earlier. In one case, frictional force is
proportional to displacement; in another case, frictional force is proportional to relative velocity. In the
case which you normally come across, frictional force is proportional to the accelerations.
So, you have all the three possibilities. And, this spring comes to rest after a long period of time. In
vibration problems, material damping is usually included as equivalent viscous or Coulomb friction.
Either it is related in terms of fluid friction, or it is related in terms of dry friction, to simplify the
analysis.
Even in friction, experiments have played a very important role in understanding the concepts. Let us
get on to dry friction. Suppose I have a block and I have a force F1 acting on it. Are frictional forces
​

developed? Frictional forces are not developed. In the absence of an external force to cause a
tendency for relative motion, no frictional forces are developed. Only when a force tries to dislodge it;
when there is a relative motion possible between these two surfaces, you have frictional forces
developed.
Frictional forces are developed, and the object continues to remain at rest until the force applied
reaches a threshold value. This is a common experience. I have a table in front of me. Suppose I want
to push this table; the common experience is you go and try to push it. After you apply a sufficient
amount of force, suddenly you find the table picks up an acceleration. It also becomes easier for you
to push it further.
When F reaches the maximum frictional force, the object will be on the verge of sliding. This is what is
plotted in the graph between applied force and frictional force. It remains linear. As the applied force
is increased, frictional force also increases. It cannot indefinitely increase. It reaches a maximum value
dictated by the frictional coefficient between the surfaces.
This happens when it reaches the maximum value when the motion is impending. That means, if the
forces are slightly increased further, the block or the object will tend to move. Under this situation, the
block is at rest. Suppose, I increase the force; you also plot the graph. Relative motion starts when I
increase the force, dynamic friction comes into play, and the frictional force is reduced.
This is a common experience. If you take a table and push it, you find at some point, you have reached
the maximum force. Then the block or table, whichever you are trying to push, picks up an
acceleration. Why does it pick up an acceleration? There is a drop in the force. That is documented in
the form of a graph like this. There is a reduction, and after that, it remains constant.
It is also an idealization. Frictional force is independent of relative velocity, up to a limit. Beyond that,
there are changes, it drops down. And, in this situation, the block is in motion. It is always desirable
that you plot these graphs as two graphs as it is shown in this slide, because the first graph is between
applied force and the frictional force, and the second graph is between relative velocity between
contacting surfaces and frictional force. Many books simply combine these two as one graph, which is
strictly not correct.
And, what are Coulomb’s laws of dry friction? Though they are attributed to the scientist Coulomb, the
first two laws are formulated by another scientist called Amonton. These are based on experimental
observations. They are empirical laws. The first law states: the magnitude of the frictional force is
directly proportional to the normal load between the surfaces, for a given pair of materials. What you
need to understand is that the coefficient of friction is always given for a pair of materials. It is not
given for one single material, but for the two materials in contact.
And, what is said here is; magnitude of the frictional force, when we mean it, we mean the maximum
static frictional force. The second law is; this maximum static frictional force is independent of the area
of the contacting surfaces, which is known as an apparent area for a given normal load. It is a very
subtle point. Normally, you might think that when you have a larger object with a larger surface, it
would offer more resistance because of friction. This is not so. We will also see some of the details as
we go by.
To these two laws, Coulomb added a third law which says that the magnitude of the frictional force,
when we say this, we always mean the maximum static frictional force when the object is at rest. And
when the object is moving, kinetic or dynamic frictional force, it is independent of sliding velocity. This
is an experimental observation. We also have situations where this is violated. And, what happens in
such a case?
The first law may be expressed simply as the frictional force is less than or equal to μ_s N. Please note
down the mathematical inequality written here. Normally, people write this as equal to μ_s N. But, you
should recognize from the way we have learned that what happens when the frictional forces are
developed. In the initial stages, the frictional forces are dictated by the conditions of equilibrium. And,
it reaches a threshold value when the motion is impending. When there is impending motion taking
place, only at that condition, I have f equal to μ_s N. This is the coefficient of static friction, which is
why the symbol "s" is used, and N is the normal load.
And, you should note here; when I want to denote this as a force, these are written in terms of italic
font. One may confuse this with the Newton as the force unit; that is always written in normal font
without this italic. So, see the distinction. And, you know, it depends only on the two contacting
surfaces. I have one surface shown as in this color, another surface in this color.
Suppose I apply a smaller load here, and I apply a larger load here. The experiments reveal that even if
the load is varied by a factor of 10^6, the force shown by a thin arrow indicating 1 gram of load, and
this is shown by a very thick arrow indicating one ton, separated by a factor of 10^6, the coefficient of
static friction between the surfaces in both cases remains the same. It does not change. And, this is
based on experiments. Without experiments, one can never appreciate this concept. Intuitively, you
may feel more frictional forces would be developed, but the coefficient of static friction remains the
same. That does not change. So, you will have to make a distinction; μ_s is independent of the normal
load.
Another aspect is; experiments also reveal that μ_s remains constant even when the area of contact is
varied by a factor of 250 times. What we normally see is only an apparent area, that is nothing but the
area that we measure macroscopically. And, I show an example here. I have the surface, on this I have
an object supported on a knife edge. I apply a force to displace this. And, I have another situation
where the block is resting on one of the edges. The third situation where the block is resting on an
edge like this. In all the three cases, the coefficient of static friction remains the same; it does not
change at all. The experiments reveal, even if the apparent area is increased by 250 times, there is no
change observed. For all practical purposes, we can take that this is independent of the area of
contact, and also the load that is acting on the object.
In a similar vein, we also find the coefficient of dynamic friction is nearly independent of sliding
velocity. And, what is the best way to find out the coefficient of static friction? We would see a
demonstration, and we will also see that by an animation. One of the simplest experimental methods
to find out the coefficient of friction is the inclined plane. In this, you make the plane made of one
material or you put the material for which you have to find out the frictional coefficient as the base.
Then you have a sample; in this case, I want to find out for the same material. I have a block made of
this, I put it on this, and slowly increase the orientation. And, find out at what angle the block slips.
Now, I have the same block. Instead of putting it like this, let me put it this way. The surface area is
less. And, this also happens more or less at a similar angle. So, this indicates that surface area has no
role to play in determining the coefficient of friction. And, if I have to find out for another material; I
have this, it is aluminum. I put the aluminum here, and raise it; and slowly raise it. And, you have to see
at what angle this slips. It slips at this angle.
Now, you see that the motion is impending only at the stage where this is about to slip. If I slightly
raise the plank, it will start slipping. So, you have to correctly identify that position and you have to
employ that for applying your frictional laws.
When I say frictional force is proportional to μ × N, it happens only when the motion is impending.
That is very important to see. The first case, I have Perspex on Perspex, it is very smooth. I have a
smaller angle, about 22 degrees. And, for aluminum, between aluminum and Perspex, it is found to be
26 degrees.
So, now I have this animation, and you find the block is sliding. I will repeat this animation again. And,
what is drawn here is; I have the free body diagram of the block - weight is acting downwards, friction
is opposing the motion, and your normal force is shown slightly displaced. It is a good practice to put
it in this way. And, from this experiment, if you measure the angle at which the block is about to slide,
you call that as angle φ_s, which is known as the friction angle.
Based on the equilibrium equation, this is related to the coefficient of static friction as μ_s = tan φ_s.
The important point what I want to see is; if I displace slightly at this stage, the block slides. So, you
have to understand what is the meaning of impending motion. Only when a slight angle is modified,
the block is going to slide - that moment is impending.
You know, in the game of tug-of-war, when you are pulling the rope, when the rope is about to slide
out of your hands; that is the time the motion is impending. And, you should know how to identify
whether the motion is impending or not. You understand whether the motion is impending only when
the actual slipping takes place. But, we are talking about the situation where slipping has not taken
place; but any slight modification would precipitate sliding of the objects concerned.
So, that is what is illustrated in this. And, when you look at the mathematics, I get the expression μ_s =
tan φ_s. This is not dependent on the mass m or the force of gravity g; acceleration due to gravity g. It
is not a function of these two. And, in fact, if you go and see in many places where they store sand or
construction materials, or also in the places where they have grains in large markets where they put it
in a pile; depending on the material that you have, they will automatically form a cone of a particular
angle. This is also known as angle of repose, which is dictated by friction.
This is also known as the angle of repose. And, you again see, what is the meaning of impending
motion. When I slightly change it, the block begins to slide. So, the situation just prior to this is the
condition for impending motion.
What happens at higher relative velocities? When the block is in motion, it is dictated by the
coefficient of friction, which is known as dynamic friction indicated by the symbol μ with the suffix "d".
At very high sliding speeds, for metal-to-metal contact, μ_d falls with increasing velocity. This is what is
observed. What is the consequence of it?
This phenomenon is observed for poorly lubricated or unlubricated surfaces, which may lead to
frictional oscillations called stick-slip. In fact, in some movies, where they want to show a very eerie
condition, you might enter a bungalow at midnight and find a door that is oscillating and generating a
creaking sound. You would feel uncomfortable due to the situation. The creaking sound you hear is
mainly due to the phenomenon called stick-slip. This is seen even in simple doors if they are poorly
lubricated.
So, what happens when the objects under consideration are well lubricated? The friction coefficient
increases with the increase in sliding velocity and minimizes the frictional oscillations. It is always
desirable to have well-lubricated surfaces. Normally, if there is a creaking sound from your door, you
take a drop of oil and put it on the door; essentially, you lubricate it. You don’t even need to study
mechanics to do this. You’re not comfortable with the sounds, so you simply put oil and manage the
situation. From a scientific perspective, you lubricate it well so that you can increase the coefficient of
dynamic friction and minimize frictional oscillation.
Now, how do you select the appropriate frictional laws? There are three possible states of surfaces: dry,
greasy or partially lubricated, and completely lubricated. For the first two cases, dry or partially
lubricated, the laws of Coulomb friction are applicable, which simplifies the situation. On the other
hand, when there is a film that completely separates the metal-to-metal contact, even though it’s not
visible, there is a film between the two surfaces. This film is very small in thickness but under very high
pressure. In such cases, the laws of viscous friction must be applied for the analysis of the problem.
In dry friction or Coulomb friction, it is essentially an external friction phenomenon, where both static
and dynamic friction are involved. In dry friction, the maximum frictional force is proportional to the
applied normal load. This maximum frictional force occurs only when the body is just about to slip.
That’s a key point to note: for any frictional problem, you cannot simply replace the frictional force as
μ times N unless you investigate and find out that relative motion is possible, or motion is impending.
Then only can you say the frictional force equals μ times N. Also, dynamic frictional force is always less
than the maximum frictional force when the body is just about to slip. This concept is useful for
studying wedges, power screws, and other mechanical engineering applications. Power screws are
essentially a wedge wrapped around a cylinder. You also see applications in partially lubricated
bearings, such as in brakes, clutches, and belt drives. In all these cases, you can apply Coulomb friction
laws to calculate parameters.
To understand these concepts better, let’s solve a simple problem: I have a block that measures 2a by
2a and weighs 200 Newtons. In this problem, you need to find out the condition of the block for
different forces starting from 0, 50, 90, and 100 Newtons. Also, determine the reaction forces. The
coefficient of static friction between the block and the floor is given as 0.3, and the coefficient of
dynamic friction is 0.25. Note that μs is greater than μd. Think about this problem, and we will try to
solve it in the next class.
In this class, we briefly discussed the classification of friction. We classified friction into external and
internal types. External friction is further divided into static and dynamic friction, while internal friction
includes fluid friction and solid friction. A key point to note is that in one case, frictional force is
proportional to displacement, as in solid friction. In the case of fluid friction, frictional force is
proportional to relative velocity, and in dry friction, frictional force is proportional to acceleration. It’s
important to recognize that frictional forces only develop when there is a tendency for relative motion.
In the initial stages, frictional forces are governed by the equilibrium condition, and they increase as
the external forces increase. They reach a maximum value when motion is impending. Only at that
point can you replace the frictional force as μ times the normal force.
Thank you.