Enhancing tribological performance of AISI 52100: the role of laser surface texturing in dry and lubricated conditions

Laser surface texturing (LST) is a valuable technique in surface engineering that offers significant improvements in the tribological behavior of metals and alloys. This study investigates the synergistic effect of incorporating hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) as a solid lubricant with laser surface texturing on the tribological performance of AISI 52100. Dimple textures with varying pitch distances (100, 150, and 200 mu m) were created on the surfaces of the mentioned materials using LST. The friction coefficient and wear behavior of both non-textured surface (NTS) and textured surfaces (TS) were analyzed under dry sliding (DS) and lubricating sliding (LS) conditions. Wear tests were conducted using a universal tribometer under a load of 10 N, a sliding frequency of 10 Hz, and a sliding time of 1250 s. The results demonstrate that the presence of dimple textures significantly influences the tribological behavior of the materials. In DS, the wear coefficient exhibits a significant reduction compared to NTS, with decreases of 88.1% for TSP-100, 28.5% for TSP-150, and 76.1% for TSP-200. In LS, the TSP-L-100 (h-BN NPS) surface demonstrates the lowest average wear coefficient among all textured surfaces. Specifically, the TSP-L-100 surface shows a remarkable 97.61% reduction in average wear coefficient compared to NTS. This study demonstrates the potential of LST combined with h-BN as a solid lubricant in improving the tribological properties of metals, offering valuable insights for surface engineering applications in various industries.