High friction and low wear properties of laser-textured ceramic surface under dry friction

Two kinds of grooved textures with different spacing were fabricated on Al2O3/TiC ceramic surface by an Nd:YAG laser. The dry tribological properties of the textured samples were investigated by carrying out unidirectional rotary sliding friction and wear tests using a ball-on-disk tribometer. Results show that the laser textured samples exhibit higher friction coefficient and excellent wear resistance compared with the smooth sample under dry friction conditions. Furthermore, the texture morphology and spacing have a significant influence on the tribological properties. The sample with small texture spacing may be beneficial to increasing the friction coefficient, and the wavy-grooved sample exhibits the highest friction coefficient and shallowest wear depth. The increasing friction coefficient and anti-wear properties are attributed to the combined effects of the increased surface roughness, reduced real contact area, micro-cutting effect by the texture edges and entrapment of wear debris.