Analysis of nanocontact problems of layered viscoelastic solids with surface energy effects under different loading patterns

Surface stresses have a remarkable effect on nanocontact response of layered viscoelastic solids, especially under specific loading patterns. In the framework of nonlinear viscoelastic contact mechanics, a numerical model is developed to investigate the quasistatic nanocontact response of elastically layered viscoelastic solids under different loading patterns. The developed model accounts for surface energy effects by adopting the complete Gurtin-Murdoch surface elasticity model. The Schapery's constitutive viscoelastic creep model is used for the stress, strain, and time relationships. The transient term in the creep compliance is expressed by Prony's series. Frictionless contact condition is assumed throughout the contact interface. The equilibrium contact configuration, in which the contact constraints are exactly satisfied without any need for an appropriate value for the penalty parameter, is obtained by using the Lagrange multiplier method in the framework of the Newton-Raphson procedure. The developed model is applied to study and analyze the quasistatic nanocontact response of two different problems under different loading patterns. Results show the significant effect of the type of loading pattern and its rate on the nanocontact response of elastically layered viscoelastic solids.