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Experimental study demonstrates substantial lubrication and friction benefits in sliding contacts, indicating the utility of thin compliant surface layers.
A simple pure-sliding experiment, on a cylinder and plane apparatus, is used to examine the benefit to be gained from the use of a thin soft layer on the surface of one of a pair of mating solids. In terms of lubrication and friction, the benefit is considerable.
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Bennett et al. (1970) studied this question.
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