Experimental Study on the Friction Characteristics of Textured Steel Surface with Ring-Shaped Pits under Lubricated Sliding Conditions

Abstract

Surface texturing has been recognized to be an effective approach to modify the tribological performances of sliding surfaces. A ring-shaped texture has been fabricated on the surface of AISI1045 steel using a pulse laser, and reciprocating sliding tests were performed on a variable load tribometer (VLT). Frictional force of the textured surfaces was investigated under various geometrical parameters (inner radius, external radius, pitch, and offset ratio of texture units) and operating conditions (velocity and load). The results show that the width of the ring-shaped texture has a significant influence on antifriction, an optimum width for minimum friction is about 200 µm, and the staggered array of texture units is an effective way of reducing frictional force and wear.

KEY WORDS:

• Ring-Shaped Pits
• Textured Surface
• Test
• Frictional Properties

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51375480 and 50975276), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK2011218), and Project Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.