Rheological response of fatty alcohols in sliding elastohydrodynamic contacts

► The authors discovered anomalous film shapes of 1-dodecanol in elastohydrodynamic conditions in a previous study. ► The authors investigated the anomalous film shapes using other fatty alcohols such as 1-denaol and 1-tetradecanol. ► Anomalous film shapes also appear with the two new alcohols studied. ► The higher the melting point of fatty alcohol, the greater the change in film shape. ► The solidification of the fatty alcohols can explain the drastic change in film shape.