Comparison of the effect of typical patterns on friction and wear properties of chromium alloy prepared by laser surface texturing

Abstract Chromium alloy has been widely employed in industry due to high strength and corrosion resistance. However, poor tribological performance directly affect the lifetime of chromium-based components. In order to improve surface properties of chromium alloy, we investigate the effect of typical patterns including micro-dimples, micro-grooves and micro-grids on their friction and wear behaviors generated by laser surface texturing. Experimental results show that laser-textured surfaces significantly reduce the wear volume up to 57%, especially for surface patterns with micro-grids. The enhanced wear performance is mainly caused by the increased microhardness in local quenched zones, the capability of trapping wear debris and uniform stress distribution during friction sliding process.