Abstract
To explain the mechanism of friction for a rubber block sliding on a road surface with multi-scale asperities, we estimate the friction coefficient for rubber based on Persson's mathematical model. Persson has stated that the major contribution to rubber friction, such as tire/road interaction, is from the hysteresis term for rubber deformation and from the multi-scale roughness of the road surface. Applying Persson's model, we propose a new methodology which determines the friction coefficient from the standpoint of the rubber elastic limit. Comparing the calculated friction coefficient with the friction coefficient measured in the friction testing, we find that there are some differences between the experiment and calculation in the range of measured sliding velocities. We discuss these differences and show that it is necessary to modify this friction model to consider not only the hysteresis term but also adhesion and local temperature terms due to the interaction between the rubber and the road surface.
