Phys.org  September 6, 2022 While the impact of mechanical energy and heat on the friction and wear behavior of dry metallic interfaces has been the focus of extensive research in the past, the effect of extreme speeds on the near-surface deformation mechanisms in polycrystalline metals has remained poorly understood. An international team of researchers (Austria, UK) explored sliding velocities ranging from 10 to 2560 m/s via large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to identify three distinct deformation regimes in CuNi alloys. The microstructural response did not vary much for any of the considered systems up to sliding velocities of 40 m/s, but […]