The effect of laser surface texturing on the tribological behavior of Ti-6Al-4V

Abstract

This article reports the surface modification of Ti-6Al-4V, which is widely used for mechanical engineering applications by laser texturing in order to enhance its tribological properties. Surface patterns with three different diametered dimples were prepared for Ti-6Al-4V. Two types of oil with different viscosities were evaluated as lubricants using a pin-disc tribometer. The results show that the textured surfaces exhibit lower friction coefficients and wear compared with the untextured surface. However, as the load increases, the effect of friction reduction for all the textured surfaces decreases when lubricated with lower viscosity oil. The beneficial effects of the dimples are more pronounced at higher speeds and loads when lubricated with higher viscosity oil. The influence of dimple sizes on lubricating-regime transitions is investigated in this study, and the mechanism for friction reduction is discussed.

Dry sliding wear behavior of TC11 alloy at 500°C: Influence of laser surface texturing

“…Previous studies have shown that friction and wear can be effectively reduced or alleviated by applying laser surface texturing technology to many moving parts, such as the mechanical sealing, cylinder/piston, thrust bearings, and engine components [11][12][13]. Hu et al [9] studied the influence of surface texture parameters on the tribological properties of titanium alloy when subjected to two kinds of lubricant oils with different viscosities. They demonstrated that the appropriate parameters of micro-dimples were helpful to improve the wear resistance of titanium alloy.…”

“…In order to overcome these problems, different surface treatments have been used to produce a lubricating and anti-wear layer on the surface of titanium alloys, such as depositing coatings, thermal oxidation, ion implantation and laser surface texturing (LST) [5][6][7][8][9][10]. Among them, laser surface texturing has recently become a competitive method to fabricate controllable micro-scale structures that can improve the tribological property of material surface.…”

Tribological behavior of nanosecond-laser surface textured Ti6Al4V

“…Many surface engineering methods have been applied in order to improve the tribological performance of titanium alloys, such as thermochemical treatments, hard or soft coatings as well as mechanical treatments [3]. Also different surface texturing methods were used [4,5], with laser surface texturing becoming increasingly established due to its flexibility and high precision [6]. Studies were also performed on laser textured Ti6Al4V surfaces in combination with the application of a diamond-like carbon coating [7] or solid lubricant [8].…”

“…These result from a portion of the material only being molten by the laser and then being pushed to the sides of the texture by the portion of the material that has been vaporized, which is generally described as melt ejection. These melt bulges are commonly either polished off before the tribological experiments [6,8,11,12] or the surfaces are prepared by shorter pico-/ femtosecond-pulses, which do not yield such melt bulges [13].…”

Electrochemical micromachining of micro-dimple arrays on the surface of Ti-6Al-4V with NaNO3 electrolyte

“…However, it has been reported that titanium alloys show a poor tribological performance, such as poor abrasion resistance and severe adhesive wear, which restricts their application [3]. As an important surface texture, micro-dimple arrays have been introduced onto titanium alloy surfaces to enhance the tribological behaviour, and it has been proved that, compared with an untextured surface, the dimpled texture on a titanium alloy surface leads to a lower friction coefficient and lower wear [4]. In addition, micro-dimple textures on titanium alloy surfaces also play an important role in biomedical engineering.…”