Improvement of current-carrying tribological behaviour via laser surface texture

Three kinds of laser surface texture (LST), i.e. square pit-textured surface (SPTS), round pit-textured surface (RPTS) and groove-textured surface (GTS), are fabricated on the flat brass (H65) sample surfaces. The current-carrying tribological behaviour of these surfaces are investigated. It is noticed the COFs of smooth surface, SPTS and RPTS are all greater than 0.6 after the test, while the GTS has the lowest COF, which remains around 0.2 throughout the test. The vibration signals detected from all surfaces indicate the larger COF will not trigger the FIV generation in this state. All the texture surfaces will not cause electrical contact breaks. Worn surface analysis indicates the wear level of GTS is the weakest, with slight damage and debris accumulation occurs along the groove edges. Finite element analysis is performed to calculate the variation of contact force, contact temperature and voltage signal, and the test results can be well explained.