An Experimental Investigation of Dimple-Texturing on the Tribological Performance of Hardened AISI H-13 Steel

The fabrication of dimple-texture is essential for reducing friction and wear in frictional interaction pairs. The tribological characteristics of the frictional interaction pairs can be improved by controlling the dimple pattern, the depth to diameter ratio, and the area density ratio. In this study, the tribological characteristics of tungsten carbide discs with various dimple-texture patterns and hardened AISI H-13 steel pins are tested experimentally using a pin on disc wear tester to identify the wear mechanism. Laser marking technology was utilized to fabricate the dimple-textures such as circular arrays of the honeycomb pattern and spherical dimple-texture pattern with varying area density ratios. The impact of dimple-texture patterns is examined experimentally under dry testing conditions. Dimple-textured surfaces have a positive influence as compared to non-textured smooth surfaces. Particularly, the spherical dimple-textured pattern reduces frictional coefficient and wear rate by 45% and 51%, respectively, compared to non-textured smooth surfaces. The dimple-texture pattern and area density ratio control are essential features in dimple-texturing.