Directional commensurability stabilizes structural superlubricity in patterned mesoscale interfaces
Abstract
Structural superlubricity, arising from lattice incommensurability, offers a promising route to eliminate friction and associated energy losses in mechanical systems. In real-world systems, roughness and wear currently pose severe limitations on its robustness and especially the contact size. Here, we consider patterned surfaces as a possible route to overcome some of these limitations. We show that the simplest choice of patterning, contacts made up of two incommensurate triangular-triangular patterns, fails at elevated loads because of the small number of load-bearing contacts, causing the maximum local contact pressure to exceed the strength of the superlubric coating. We introduce a square-triangular patterned interface that increases the number of load-bearing contacts and organizes them into continuous contact lines. When sliding along specific directions relative to these lines, superlubricity is maintained at significantly higher loads by reducing pressure-induced coating failure while also remaining somewhat tolerant to surface imperfections. These findings establish a mechanism for stabilizing structural superlubricity against coating failure and a design principle for engineering low-friction interfaces with enhanced load-bearing capacity and defect tolerance.
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BibTeX
@misc{ho2026directional,
title = {{Directional commensurability stabilizes structural superlubricity in patterned mesoscale interfaces}},
author = {Viet Hung Ho and Ge Li and Melisa M. Gianetti and Bjørn Haugen and Graham L. W. Cross and Astrid S. de Wijn},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.29141},
eprint = {2608.29141},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.29141},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Directional commensurability stabilizes structural superlubricity in patterned mesoscale interfaces
AU - Viet Hung Ho
AU - Ge Li
AU - Melisa M. Gianetti
AU - Bjørn Haugen
AU - Graham L. W. Cross
AU - Astrid S. de Wijn
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.29141
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.29141
AB - Structural superlubricity, arising from lattice incommensurability, offers a promising route to eliminate friction and associated energy losses in mechanical systems. In real-world systems, roughness and wear currently pose severe limitations on its robustness and especially the contact size. Here, we consider patterned surfaces as a possible route to overcome some of these limitations. We show that the simplest choice of patterning, contacts made up of two incommensurate triangular-triangular patterns, fails at elevated loads because of the small number of load-bearing contacts, causing the maximum local contact pressure to exceed the strength of the superlubric coating. We introduce a square-triangular patterned interface that increases the number of load-bearing contacts and organizes them into continuous contact lines. When sliding along specific directions relative to these lines, superlubricity is maintained at significantly higher loads by reducing pressure-induced coating failure while also remaining somewhat tolerant to surface imperfections. These findings establish a mechanism for stabilizing structural superlubricity against coating failure and a design principle for engineering low-friction interfaces with enhanced load-bearing capacity and defect tolerance.
ER -