A novel surface texture for magnetic fluid lubrication

Magnetic fluid has many advantages when serving as lubricant. With an appropriate magnetic field this lubricant can prevent leakage and increase the load capacity of lubricant film. It can also be fixed at the friction zone by applying an external magnetic field. A novel design of magnetic fluid lubrication with magnetic surface texture was proposed in this paper. A micro-scale dimple pattern was firstly fabricated on the surface of tribo-pair and then a permanent magnet material was electrodeposited into these dimples, so that there are both geometric surface texture and periodic distribution of magnetic field on the surface (magnetic surface texture). In this paper, CoNiMnP permanent magnetic film (about 25 μm thickness) was electrodeposited into micro-dimples (500 μm in diameter) on the surface of 316 stainless steel. The impact of magnetic surface texture on lubrication was investigated using a pin-on-disk test rig. The test results showed that magnetic surface texture was conducive to form effective lubrication at low sliding velocity when lubricated by magnetic fluids.