some recent experiments on the FRICTION, WEAR, AND DEFORMATION OF SOLIDS

EXPERIMENTS have been conducted at Cambridge University which probed the sliding friction and wear of nonmetals, and the deformation of solids at high rates of strain. The author was particularly interested in the deformation and damage of metals and nonmetals under high-speed liquid impact. The findings will contribute to the development of materials that can withstand the friction of high-speed space flight.

The author discusses the sliding friction and wear of wood, diamond, glass, rubber, and metallic carbides. In the last part of the paper, he describes the high-speed problems arising when solids are deformed very rapidly.