Combined Effect of a Laser Cladded Coating and Surface Texture on Tribological Performance Under Dry Sliding and Starved Lubrication

Abstract

Fe-based alloy coating was laser cladded on gray cast iron using Ni-Cu alloy as an intermediate layer. The cross section of the laser cladded coating was characterized by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and a Vickers hardness tester. A microdimple texture was created by reciprocating an electrolyte jet with prefabricated mask (REJP) machining on an Fe-based alloy coating. The tribological performances of untextured and textured coatings were examined through interrupted wear tests using an in-house developed reciprocating ball-on-plate tribotester under dry sliding and starved lubricated conditions. The results show that the presence of microdimple edges in the nonconformal contact region has a detrimental effect on the friction performance under dry sliding. However, the microdimples can be beneficial for trapping debris to preserve a smoother contacting surface and thus a lower volume wear track compared to untextured coatings. Due to its role in oil reservoirs and debris entrapment, the microdimple textured coating can maintain a low friction coefficient for a long time period after lubricant oil cutoff and results in a lower volume wear track under starved lubrication. Graphical abstract

Improvement of current-carrying tribological behaviour via laser surface texture

“…Nowadays, Laser Surface Texturing (LST), has become a well-known surface to improve the tribological characteristics of contact interface. Researchers have carried out a great deal of research on the tribological behaviour related to LST [13][14][15][16][17][18]. However, these studies are all carried out in the case of no current input, and the research related to LST under current-carrying condition is rarely reported.…”