Topology optimization of AISI 4140 steel with surface texture filled by multi-solid lubricants for enhancing tribological properties

• Published in: Friction Vol. 12; no. 9; pp. 2033 - 2051
• Main Authors: Huang, Qipeng, Wu, Chaohua, Shi, Xiaoliang, Zhang, Kaipeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Tsinghua University Press 01.09.2024; Springer Nature B.V; School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering,Wuhan University of Technology,Wuhan 430070,China; School of Transportation and Logistics Engineering,Wuhan University of Technology,Wuhan 430063,China%School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering,Wuhan University of Technology,Wuhan 430070,China
• Subjects: Chromium molybdenum steels; Coefficient of friction; Contact stresses; Corrosion and Coatings; Density; Engineering; Equivalence; High strength steels; Lubricants & lubrication; Mechanical Engineering; Mechanical properties; Nanotechnology; Physical Chemistry; Research Article; Rubbing; Self lubrication; Solid lubricants; Surface layers; Surfaces and Interfaces; Synergistic effect; Texture; Thin Films; Topology optimization; Tribology; Wear particles; Wear rate; Wind power; nano-TiC; solid lubrication; self-lubricating; topological texture
• ISSN: 2223-7690; 2223-7704
• DOI: 10.1007/s40544-024-0863-x

Wind power gears will be excessively worn due to lubrication failure during operation. Herein, the tribological properties of rubbing pairs are improved by filling solid lubricants into surface texture. In texture design, three types of topological textures (Circle (C), Hexagon (H) and Circle/Hexagon (CH)) were obtained by cell topology optimization, and then three cases with 20%, 30%, and 40% density were designed for each texture. Next, SnAgCu and TiC were deposited in texture of AISI 4140 steel (AS) to obtain 9 kinds of self-lubricating surfaces. Among them, AS with 30% CH density (AS-CH30) exhibits excellent mechanical and tribological properties. Compared with AS-C and AS-H, the maximum equivalent stress of AS-CH was decreased by 10.86% and 5.37%, respectively. Friction coefficient and wear rate of AS-CH30 were 79.68% and 78% lower than those of AS. The excellent tribological performances of AS-CH30 can be attributed to the synergistic effect of topological surface and solid lubricants. Topological surface can not only reduce fluctuation of equivalent stress, but also promote the stored lubricants to be easily transferred at the contact interface to form a 200 nm lubricating film containing solid lubricants (mainly), oxides and wear debris.