Lubricated Sliding Wear of Textured Surfaces

In this paper, the effects of some geometric characteristics of surfaces textured by photochemical etching on their lubricated sliding behaviour were analysed. Reciprocating tests with sinusoidal velocity variation against cylindrical counterbodies were used. An estimate of the lubricant film thickness was obtained from capacitance measurements. Values of film capacitance, film thickness and coefficient of friction were computed as a function of sliding velocity, averaged over a large number of consecutive strokes after the running-in period. Patterns composed of circles with different fractions of coverage of the surface were tested for different ratios between the width of the individual pockets and the contact width. All the results were compared with those from a standard polished surface.