The influence of oscillations on friction is of great importance for many technical applications, such as the development and optimization of ultrasonic motors, the development of robust tribological measurement techniques, the rapidly growing field of nanotribology, and manufacturing techniques such as wire drawing, press forming and drilling.

In this work, fundamentals of oscillation-based control and actuation were investigated. The results can be found in the papers below. They are part of a larger ongoing project, which can be found here on ResearchGate.

The title picture above shows a camera lens as a typical application for ultrasonic motors.

Influence of friction by normal and sideways oscillations:

Reduction of friction by normal oscillations. I. Influence of contact stiffness
M. Popov, V. L. Popov, N. Popov
Friction, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 45-55, 2017

Active control of friction by transverse oscillations
J. Benad, K. Nakano, V. L. Popov, M. Popov
Friction, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 74-85, 2019

The key findings of the second paper are summarized in the image below.

Comparison of the influence of normal and sideways oscillations on friction and their energy efficiency:

Stiff and soft active control of friction by vibrations and their energy efficiency
J. Benad, M. Popov, K. Nakano, V. L. Popov
Forschung im Ingenieurwesen, vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 331-339, 2018

Events related to the project:

Recognition of the project:

Best paper award at the 2nd Young Tribological Researcher Symposium which was held in Berlin in May 2018 and was organized by the Young Tribologists, a working group of the Society of Tribology (GfT).

News posts on the project:

More information and further publications:

The work displayed above is only a part of a larger ongoing project, which can be found here on ResearchGate.