Use of the Roughness Parameters S_sk and S_ku to Control Friction—A Method for Designing Surface Texturing

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work was to show that with the use of the surface roughness parameters S_sk and S_ku we can predict tribological behavior of contact surfaces and use these parameters to plan surface texturing. This article presents a continuation of our research on virtual texturing and experimental work on surface textures in the form of channels. For this investigation, steel samples were laser surface textured in the shape of dimples with different spacings between the dimples and different dimple depths. The experimental results confirmed that the parameters S_sk and S_ku can be used to design the surface texturing, where a higher value of S_ku and more negative S_sk lead to lower friction.

KEYWORDS:

• Surface roughness
• roughness parameters
• surface texturing
• friction

Funding

This work was founded by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) and Hidria Rotomatika d.o.o. under Project number 6316-6/2013-4014.