The assessment of the surface texture of friction node components after tribological tests

Abstract

At present, a number of methods can be applied to measure the surface structure of elements. In this paper, following methods were selected to measure the surface texture of friction node components (a ball-disc couple) after tribological tests: contact profilometry, coherence correlation interferometry and atomic force microscopy. The specimens under investigation were: a disc coated by DLC (diamond-like carbon) layer and a ball made of bearing steel.