Work

The Influences of Surface Texture Topography and Orientation on Point-Contact Mixed Lubrication

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Surface topography plays a critical role in determining the tribological performance of engineering surfaces. This study systematically investigates the lubrication film characteristics of bump array surfaces (isotropic and anisotropic), groove surfaces, and herringbone surfaces through point-contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) analyses. Numerical simulations were conducted to evaluate the influences of surface topographical parameters on the lubrication performance, which is quantified by average film thickness and contact load ratio. The results indicate that transverse textures lead to thicker average film as compared with longitudinal textures. This is mainly because the transverse textures can generate more effective hydrodynamic pressures from the oil film behind the ridges due to micro-EHL. By analyzing the topographical parameters and their impacts on the average film thickness and contact load ratio, this study provides practical guidance for designing surface topographies that optimize average film thickness, applicable to a wide range of tribological systems.

Source: Lubricants

DOI: 10.3390/lubricants13090409

Authors: Chengjiao Yu, Rui Cheng, Hongwei Zhang, Chicheng Ma, Shuangcheng Yu

Institutions: Hebei University of Technology, State Key Laboratory of Reliability and Intelligence of Electrical Equipment

Language: English

Topic: Tribology and Lubrication Engineering

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China