Friction and Wear Characteristics for Laser Surface Textured Rolling Bearing Steel: Effect of Pattern Density, Depth, and Area

Abstract

Chrome steels (AISI-52100) are also known as bearing steels since they possess good strength and wear resistance. Even though it has good tribological properties, the bearing components are subjected to failure due to the friction while in operation even before its service life. In this paper to improve the tribological behavior particularly improving the wear resistance and COF in the bearing material, laser surface texture was carried out. The optimum texture size, depth, and texture density that will improve the overall tribological performance of the bearing material were identified. Pin on disc was carried out for wear analysis with lubricant being semisolid grease (SKF NLGI-3). The scanning electron microscope (SEM) was utilized for the wear morphology of the textured samples. The 3D roughness and texture depth of the samples were obtained with the help of an optical profilometer. Texture density of 14% having an area of 0.02 mm² and number of times laser passed 2 showed good reduction in wear rate from 1.15 to 0.65mm³/m and COF reduced from 0.24 to 0.11.