Multifractal Analysis of Stress Time Series during Ultrathin Lubricant Film Melting

Melting of an ultrathin lubricant film confined between two atomically flat surfaces is studied using the rheological model for viscoelastic matter approximation. Phase diagram with domains, corresponding to sliding, dry, and two types of stick-slip friction regimes has been built taking into account additive noises of stress, strain, and temperature of the lubricant. The stress time series have been obtained for all regimes of friction using the Stratonovich interpretation. It has been shown that self-similar regime of lubricant melting is observed when intensity of temperature noise is much larger than intensities of strain and stress noises. This regime is defined by homogenous distribution, at which characteristic stress scale is absent. We study stress time series obtained for all friction regimes using multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis. It has been shown that multifractality of these series is caused by different correlations that are present in the system and also by a power-law distribution. Since the power-law distribution is related to small stresses, this case corresponds to self-similar solid-like lubricant.