ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the molecular dynamics (MD) simulations dealing with various aspects of mechanical, frictional, and wear properties of solid surfaces and thin lubricating films. Understanding and ultimately controlling friction and wear have long been recognized as important to many areas of technology. To provide a feeling for the details that have contributed to the success of this approach in the study of adhesion, friction, and wear as well as other related areas. A summary of the MD results is given in the final section. Although not all potential energy expressions widely used in MD simulations have been covered, this section provides a brief introduction to those that have found the most use in the simulations of friction, wear, and related phenomena. As computer speeds continue to increase and as new algorithms are developed, we expect that these more exact methods will play an increasingly important role in tribological simulations.
