Abstract:The fire is closely related, to people's life. The essence of making fire by drilling wood is the process which can transform mechanical energy into heat. When the speed of heat generation by kinetic energy is faster than the external heat dissipation during friction process, the temperature of sliding contacts will be rising all the way to the ignition point of wood. The aim of this paper is to investigate the old story quantitatively by drilling three different wood materials and by correlating the change of the temperature gradient with friction coefficient. The underlying mechanism is tentatively discussed. As a result, a kind of material can be suggested that is most suitable for making fire.

Keywords: Making fire; Mechanical energy; Temperature gradient; Coefficient of friction

Published in TRIBOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, 97 1-5; 10.1016/j.triboint.2016.01.011 MAY 2016