Thermodynamics and kinetics of shear-induced melting of a thin layer of lubricant confined between solids

Using Landau’s phenomenological theory of phase transitions, the shear-induced melting of a thin layer of substance confined between two crystalline surfaces is considered. The kinetics of melting and solidification is considered for static and alternating loads. The possibility of two consecutive “melting” (solid-to-liquid) transitions is discussed. As a result of the first transition, modulation of the microscopic density becomes zero only in the direction of shear (partial melting) and as a result of the second, it also disappears in the normal direction (complete melting).