Study On Lubrication Performance Of Stainless Steel Surface With Magnetic Texture

Magnetic fluid (MF), as the new emerging functional material, processes the function of both magnetic as the soft magnet and the flowability of fluid. Due to the magnetic effect, MF can be positioned, shaped, fastened or moved with the control of the external applying magnetic field. When serving as the lubricant, MF would maintain at the friction area because of the magnetic force. The lubrication effect is so excellent that MF has been widely used in mechanical sealing and lubrication. By reasonable design of the outside magnetic field distribution, the sealing and lubrication superiority of MF can be optimized to the best, which lead to the abroad application prospect in industry in the future.Magnetic surface texture is a new coming surface treatment, which is realized by deposited the magnetic film in the surface texture to have the advantages of surface texture as well as the magnetic field. When lubricated with the MF, the magnetic surface texture displayed better lubricant effect than the non-texture surface. This paper studied the friction performance of round magnetic surface texture lubricated by the MF. First, the magnetic surface texture with different round diameters and area ratios were prepared on the base metal surface by using the photolithography, micro-electrochemical machining and electrodepositing method. Then the testing experiments about the dynamic and the static friction forces of the specimens with magnetic surface texture under the MF lubrication were carried out. The comparisons of lubrication effect between the magnetic surface texture and non-texture surface in the same experiment condition were also included as well. Besides, in order to further evaluate and discuss the lubrication regime of magnetic surface texture with the MF, the finite element analysis soft ware was used to analyze the magnetic distribution field of the magnetic surface texture. The main research results are as follows:(1) The photolithography, micro-electrochemical machining and electrodepositing method are the proper way to manufacture the magnetic surface texture on the surface, which has high precise texture figure and well magnetic quality in the magnetic films.(2)When lubricated with the proper MF, magnetic surface texture showed the obvious lubrication advantages in the low static friction force than the non-texture surface, especially in the high-speed condition. While in the low speed, such advantages are not so obvious. In the static condition, the static friction force of magnetic surface texture is lower than the non-texture surface, leading to the stable transformation from static to dynamic.(3)Combined the testing and the finite element analysis results, the geometric parameters of magnetic surface texture have influence on the lubrication performance. Refer to the round figure, the magnetic surface texture specimens with round diameter between 400μm--500μm and the area ratio between 5%-10% have lowest friction force and the best lubrication effect in the same experiment situation.