A comprehensive kinetic meniscus model for prediction of long-term static friction

In some interfaces, the static friction force increases with an increase in the duration of stationary contact. In this study, a comprehensive kinetic meniscus model is proposed to explain this phenomenon, both for a single asperity and multiple asperity contacts at a liquid mediated interface. It is found that the static friction increases up to a certain equilibrium time after which it remains constant. The equilibrium time is dependent on the liquid film thickness, the liquid viscosity and the contact geometry. The developed model is applied to a rough textured disk and a smooth disk in the head-disk interface of a computer hard disk drive. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)03520-3].