Effect of surface texture on the tribological behavior of sliding electrical contact interface

Abstract

Two kinds of textured surfaces, i.e. square pit-textured surface (SPTS) and round pit-textured surface (RPTS), are manufactured on the flat specimen surface, respectively. A series of current-carrying tests are carried out to detect the ability of surface texture in affecting the tribological behaviors. Results show that the friction coefficient and friction force of RPTS is the lowest among all the surfaces. Moreover, the RPTS shows the best potential in suppressing the generation of friction-induced vibration (FIV). Although the contact resistance of RPTS is slightly larger than that of other surfaces, the continuity of electrical contact is acceptable. Worn surface analysis is performed to illustrate the different tribological performances of these surfaces. Finite element analysis is also performed to provide reasonable explanation for the test phenomenon.

Current-carrying tribological behavior of textured Au/MoS2 coatings in vacuum

“…Surface texture technology is a surface modification technology by machining patterns with special morphology, size and regular arrangement on the surface of materials through micro-machining technology, which can improve tribological properties [15][16][17][18]. Song et al deposited hydrogenated amorphous carbon film on the textured steel substrate, and the grooves inhibited and trapped hard and brittle wear debris, thereby improving the vacuum tribological properties of the carbon film [15].…”

“…Song et al deposited hydrogenated amorphous carbon film on the textured steel substrate, and the grooves inhibited and trapped hard and brittle wear debris, thereby improving the vacuum tribological properties of the carbon film [15]. Wang et al investigated the effect of surface textures on the tribological behavior of sliding electrical contact interface [16], and the results show that surface textures can avoid the appearance of stress concentration and entrapped wear debris, thus showing a favourable effect on its properties. Furthermore, many studies have proved that textured holes or lines can effectively capture debris, reduce adhesion and abrasive wear, and the captured debris acts as a lubricant, greatly improving the tribological properties of materials [15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…Wang et al investigated the effect of surface textures on the tribological behavior of sliding electrical contact interface [16], and the results show that surface textures can avoid the appearance of stress concentration and entrapped wear debris, thus showing a favourable effect on its properties. Furthermore, many studies have proved that textured holes or lines can effectively capture debris, reduce adhesion and abrasive wear, and the captured debris acts as a lubricant, greatly improving the tribological properties of materials [15][16][17][18][19][20]. Therefore, surface texture technology provides a way to trap wear debris and reduce adhesive wear, which is a new way of storing lubricant in the Au coating while maintaining its electrical conductivity.…”

Improvement of current-carrying tribological behaviour via laser surface texture

“…The main reason for the degradation of electrical connector performance is interface wear caused by friction [3,4]. Nowadays, the tribological behaviour of electrical contact systems has been studied extensively, and many meaningful papers have been published [5][6][7]. It is been verified that many factors, such as temperature, external random vibration, contact load and sliding speed all can significantly affect the tribological properties of current-carrying interface, and their effect mechanisms are totally different [8][9][10][11].…”