Combined effect of texturing and boundary slippage in lubricated sliding contacts

High level of friction limits the reliability of lubricated micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) devices. The current paper explores the possibility of employing slippage combined with a textured surface in MEMS in order to improve performance characteristics. A modified Reynolds equation based on the limiting shear stress model is developed. It is confirmed that compared to an untextured surface as well as a solely textured surface, the textured surface employing a slippage has a much lower coefficient of friction, which is not affected by the texture cell aspect ratio. The results indicate that the combined textured/slippage pattern has a beneficial effect by increasing the load capacity and decreasing the friction. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.