Effect of Laser Surface Texturing (LST) on Tribological Behavior of 316L Stainless Steel

Abstract

Dimple surface texture with a matrix-distribution was prepared on the surface of 316L stainless steel by laser processing technology. Orthogonal experiment was established by taking as facters the geometrical parameters of dimple shape, area, and interval between two dimples. The effect of laser surface texturing on the tribological behavior of 316L stainless steel under dry friction was investigated. Range and variance analysis were used to analyze the mass loss of 316L stainless steel. The surface and worn morphologies of surface textured 316L stainless steel were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the friction coefficients of surface textured 316L stainless steels were higher than that of the polished 316L stainless steel, which was attributed to the increase of surface roughness after laser processing. However, the mass loss values of surface textured 316L stainless steel samples were significantly lower in comparison with the polished 316L stainless steel because the obtained surface texture provided positive effects of capturing wear debris and reducing friction contact area, thus contributing to significant improvement in wear resistance of 316L stainless steel.

Keywords

• surface texture
• 316l stainless steel
• orthogonal experiment
• tribological behavior