Tribological Characterization of Smooth and Artificially Textured Coated Surfaces Using Block-on-Ring Tests

Tribological behaviour of sliding surfaces under boundary/mixed and fully lubrication conditions is an important aspect of tribo pair design. At the same time, artificially textured surfaces have a worth noted tribological behaviour in piston ring tribology. In this paper, experiments were performed in a custom made block-on-ring test rig calibrated according to ASTM D2714. Smooth and textured species were tested for 30 min experimental time. Thereafter, the block specimens have been treated with a chromium layer of 10 mu m thickness. Repeatability tests were performed for the artificially textured and coated samples. The minimum oil thickness was measured using the capacitance method, since the friction coefficient is calculated in the computational manner. The block-ring tribo pair was lubricated with Newtonian oil SAE 30. Optical images of the blocks were illustrated after the tests. Results show that the textured surfaces improved the oil distribution generated in a hydrodynamic lift, since the friction coefficient was reduced. Textured coated stainless steel (TCSS) has shown a substantial improvement in wear resistance compared to the textured stainless steel sample.