Experimental investigation of tribological performance of laser textured stainless steel rings

A series of experiments is conducted to examine the frictional characteristics of laser surface-textured, heat-treated 17-4 PH stainless steel specimens. Two dimple shapes are tested: circular and elliptical. The circular dimples are designed with different sizes, dimple densities and dimple depth-to-diameter ratios. It is found that the cavitation pressure (P-cav) in a circular dimple is strongly affected by the operational speed. The surface textured specimens provide low coefficient of friction compared with plain (dimple-free) surfaces. However, for the material used in the current experiments, the surface texture decreases the surface's resistance to wear. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.