Thermo-elastic dynamic instability of an elastic half-plane sliding against a coated half-plane

Thermo-elastic dynamics in the stability of the homogeneous material coated half-plane sliding against a homogeneous half-plane is investigated by examining the stability of elastic waves caused by the perturbation. Firstly, we consider the case without a coating, i.e. the problem of two half-planes sliding against each other. The stability of two types of unstable waves, i.e. Adams' family wave and Rice's family wave, is analyzed for various material combinations and friction coefficients. It is shown that the Adams' family wave is more susceptible to thermo-elastic dynamic instability than the Rice's family wave for the same material combinations. Secondly, the stability of these two unstable waves for the homogeneous material coated structure is discussed and the effects of coating materials and thickness on the stability are analyzed. Numerical results show that the material combinations between the coating and the lower half-plane and the coating thickness can change the critical friction coefficient and sliding stability;and the favorable coating thickness can be chosen to keep stable sliding for the different coating materials.