Effect of cellulosic fibres on the interfacial friction between ceramic and glass

Javier Rodriguez-Rodriguez; Richard Greenwood; Lewis Taylor; Jonathan Phipps; David Skuse; Zhenyu Zhang

doi:10.1038/s41598-025-30490-8

Effect of cellulosic fibres on the interfacial friction between ceramic and glass

Javier Rodriguez-Rodriguez
, Richard Greenwood
, Lewis Taylor
, Jonathan Phipps
, David Skuse
, Zhenyu Zhang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Chemical Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

The effect of Micro-Fibrillated Cellulose (MFC) on the interfacial friction between ceramic and glass was investigated as a function of the applied load, surface roughness, sliding distance, sliding velocity, and liquid present. With a normal load of 4 N, high friction was observed whilst maintaining a low wear. Increasing the roughness (R_a) of the ceramic substrate from 0.99 to 3.01 µm could result in a slight increase in the Coefficient of Friction (CoF) from 0.36 to 0.46, but a remarkable increase in wear (depth of the wear track) from 0.27 to 1.31 µm. Friction and wear thresholds were identified after a sliding distance of 400 mm, whilst an increased sliding velocity could reduce both friction and wear. This study also investigated MFC with Xanthan Gum (XG), both with similar rheological behaviour, confirming that the physical presence of fibres in the formulation was responsible for the improved interfacial lubrication.

Original language	English
Article number	929
Number of pages	12
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	16
Issue number	1
Early online date	8 Dec 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-30490-8
Publication status	Published - 8 Jan 2026

Keywords

Grinding media
Lubricant
Shear-thinning
Cellulose fibres
Wear tracks

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RodriguezRodriguezJ2026EffectFinal published version, 2.63 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

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title = "Effect of cellulosic fibres on the interfacial friction between ceramic and glass",

abstract = "The effect of Micro-Fibrillated Cellulose (MFC) on the interfacial friction between ceramic and glass was investigated as a function of the applied load, surface roughness, sliding distance, sliding velocity, and liquid present. With a normal load of 4 N, high friction was observed whilst maintaining a low wear. Increasing the roughness (Ra) of the ceramic substrate from 0.99 to 3.01 µm could result in a slight increase in the Coefficient of Friction (CoF) from 0.36 to 0.46, but a remarkable increase in wear (depth of the wear track) from 0.27 to 1.31 µm. Friction and wear thresholds were identified after a sliding distance of 400 mm, whilst an increased sliding velocity could reduce both friction and wear. This study also investigated MFC with Xanthan Gum (XG), both with similar rheological behaviour, confirming that the physical presence of fibres in the formulation was responsible for the improved interfacial lubrication.",

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AU - Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Javier

AU - Greenwood, Richard

AU - Taylor, Lewis

AU - Phipps, Jonathan

AU - Skuse, David

AU - Zhang, Zhenyu

PY - 2026/1/8

Y1 - 2026/1/8

N2 - The effect of Micro-Fibrillated Cellulose (MFC) on the interfacial friction between ceramic and glass was investigated as a function of the applied load, surface roughness, sliding distance, sliding velocity, and liquid present. With a normal load of 4 N, high friction was observed whilst maintaining a low wear. Increasing the roughness (Ra) of the ceramic substrate from 0.99 to 3.01 µm could result in a slight increase in the Coefficient of Friction (CoF) from 0.36 to 0.46, but a remarkable increase in wear (depth of the wear track) from 0.27 to 1.31 µm. Friction and wear thresholds were identified after a sliding distance of 400 mm, whilst an increased sliding velocity could reduce both friction and wear. This study also investigated MFC with Xanthan Gum (XG), both with similar rheological behaviour, confirming that the physical presence of fibres in the formulation was responsible for the improved interfacial lubrication.

AB - The effect of Micro-Fibrillated Cellulose (MFC) on the interfacial friction between ceramic and glass was investigated as a function of the applied load, surface roughness, sliding distance, sliding velocity, and liquid present. With a normal load of 4 N, high friction was observed whilst maintaining a low wear. Increasing the roughness (Ra) of the ceramic substrate from 0.99 to 3.01 µm could result in a slight increase in the Coefficient of Friction (CoF) from 0.36 to 0.46, but a remarkable increase in wear (depth of the wear track) from 0.27 to 1.31 µm. Friction and wear thresholds were identified after a sliding distance of 400 mm, whilst an increased sliding velocity could reduce both friction and wear. This study also investigated MFC with Xanthan Gum (XG), both with similar rheological behaviour, confirming that the physical presence of fibres in the formulation was responsible for the improved interfacial lubrication.

KW - Grinding media

KW - Lubricant

KW - Shear-thinning

KW - Cellulose fibres

KW - Wear tracks

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DO - 10.1038/s41598-025-30490-8

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VL - 16

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

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ER -

Effect of cellulosic fibres on the interfacial friction between ceramic and glass

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Keywords

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