LASER SURFACE TEXTURING TO IMPROVE THE TRIBOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF Ti ALLOYS

Friction and wear requirements in the aerospace/space industry or in biomedical applications are governed by life-limiting challenges: the wide range of contact stresses and sliding speeds in movable parts and operating conditions such as extreme temperature changes, humidity and abrasive wear caused by electrostatically attracted dust. Surface modification by laser texturing has been introduced to adjust the surface characteristics of the base material to overcome its tribological limitations of use via different surface topographies, allowing for the ability of lubricant retention. Laser surface texturing is therefore effective in enhancing the tribological performance of materials via controllable surface topographies acting as traps for wear debris and lubricant reservoirs, leading to reduced abrasion. This paper reviews the tribological behaviour of a laser-textured Ti6Al4V alloy with different textures: lines, crosshatch and dimples. The fiction and wear characteristics for dry sliding are discussed and compared.