Macro-texture in hydrodynamic lubrication: Effects of dimple parameter, density and distribution

Abstract

Surface texturing, a well-known method to increase tribo-pair tribological performance, is widely used and of great importance in industrial manufacturing. By designing reasonable surface texture on two contact surfaces, the load-carrying capacity, wear resistance, and coefficient of friction of the tribo-pairs can be significantly improved. To investigate the influence of the macro-texture, millimeter magnitude, on the tribology performance, a large number of simulation cases were carried out in this work. And the influence of texture parameters including the ellipse aspect ratio, the depth-to-diameter ratio, density, and distribution on tribology performance was studied using the hydrodynamic lubrication model which was verified through a sample experiment of piston ring and cylinder liner tribo-pairs. In addition, a Taguchi algorithm was used to find the most suitable texture parameters. The results show that the influence of density on the coefficient of friction and load-carrying capacity is of significance and 20% density is sufficient for tribology performance. Dimple size and distribution had a more significant influence on tribology performance.