Avalanche Dynamics in Stick-Slip Cutting of Molybdenum Disulfide

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Koczanowski, Pawel, Nicolini, Paolo, Khaksar, Hesam, Gnecco, Enrico
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866916879753281536
author Koczanowski, Pawel
Nicolini, Paolo
Khaksar, Hesam
Gnecco, Enrico
author_facet Koczanowski, Pawel
Nicolini, Paolo
Khaksar, Hesam
Gnecco, Enrico
contents We have investigated nanoscale wear on multilayered MoS2, the flagship transition metal dichalcogenide, by elastically driving sharp diamond tips under normal loads sufficient to induce in-plane fracture. The accompanying friction and the resulting wear structures were first characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), revealing a stick-slip regime that drives progressive exfoliation of MoS2 chips. At high normal forces, the slip phase displays hallmark signatures of avalanche dynamics, observed for the first time at the nanoscale, evidenced by a Generalized Extreme Value distribution of friction force drops. The AFM characterization is corroborated by molecular dynamics simulations, which reproduce experimental trends and uncover atomistic details of the wear process, including local amorphization, layer curving, and the involvement of distinct dissipative channels. Notably, it appears that only one-fifth of the energy inputted into the system is used to damage the MoS2 surface irreversibly. These results offer new insight into the physical mechanisms governing friction and wear in layered solids and provide a framework for precision cutting and nanomachining in van der Waals materials, relevant to next-generation devices at sub-micrometer scales.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_02394
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Avalanche Dynamics in Stick-Slip Cutting of Molybdenum Disulfide
Koczanowski, Pawel
Nicolini, Paolo
Khaksar, Hesam
Gnecco, Enrico
Materials Science
We have investigated nanoscale wear on multilayered MoS2, the flagship transition metal dichalcogenide, by elastically driving sharp diamond tips under normal loads sufficient to induce in-plane fracture. The accompanying friction and the resulting wear structures were first characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), revealing a stick-slip regime that drives progressive exfoliation of MoS2 chips. At high normal forces, the slip phase displays hallmark signatures of avalanche dynamics, observed for the first time at the nanoscale, evidenced by a Generalized Extreme Value distribution of friction force drops. The AFM characterization is corroborated by molecular dynamics simulations, which reproduce experimental trends and uncover atomistic details of the wear process, including local amorphization, layer curving, and the involvement of distinct dissipative channels. Notably, it appears that only one-fifth of the energy inputted into the system is used to damage the MoS2 surface irreversibly. These results offer new insight into the physical mechanisms governing friction and wear in layered solids and provide a framework for precision cutting and nanomachining in van der Waals materials, relevant to next-generation devices at sub-micrometer scales.
title Avalanche Dynamics in Stick-Slip Cutting of Molybdenum Disulfide
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.02394