Friction Behavior of a Textured Surface against Several Materials under Dry and Lubricated Conditions

This paper reports research on the frictional behavior of a textured surface against several materials under dry and lubricated conditions, and this is aimed to provide design guidelines on the surface texturing for wide-ranging industrial applications. Experiments were performed on a tribo-tester with the facility of simulating A ball-on-plate model in reciprocating motion under dry, oil-lubricated, and water-lubricated conditions. To study the frictional behavior of textured SiC against various materials, three types of ball-bearing -elements, 52100 steel, silicon nitride (Si₃N₄), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), were used. Friction and wear performance of an un-textured surface and two types of widely used micro-scale texture surfaces, grooves and circular dimples, were examined and compared. The results demonstrated that the effect of surface textures on friction and wear performance is influenced by texture parameters and the materials of friction pairs. The circular-dimple texture and the groove texture, with certain texture parameters, played a positive role in improving friction and wear performance under specific operating conditions used in this research for SiC-steel and SiC-Si₃N₄ friction pairs; however, there was no friction and wear improvement for the textured SiC-PTFE friction pair. The results of this study offer an understanding and a knowledge base to enhance the performance of bearing elements in complex interacting systems.