Comparative Study on the tribological performance and wear behaviour of hypereutectic Al–Si cylinder liner surfaces textured using micro-drilling and mechanical indentation-based approaches

Abstract

Thermally-induced microstructural changes and the requirement of expensive equipment are the deterring aspects of using laser-based texturing for tribological applications. This study presents two texturing methods based on mechanical indentation and micro drilling on hypereutectic Al–Si cylinder liner surfaces. Etched hypereutectic Al–Si specimens were textured at three distinct texture spacings (1 mm, 1.5 mm, and 2 mm) and tested against a piston ring using a linear reciprocating tribometer at 30 °C, 80 °C, and 160 °C under boundary lubrication regime to study their tribological behaviour. Forty-eight experimental runs were performed based on the design of experiments method to investigate the effect of the texture generation method, texture spacing, and temperature on the friction and wear behaviour of the textured cylinder liner against a chrome-coated piston ring, and the results are compared with bare, unetched and untextured Al–Si specimens. Wear rates and wear mechanisms of Al–Si cylinder liners subjected to both texturing approaches under sliding conditions were investigated. Mechanical indentation with texture spacing of 1 mm exhibited optimum tribological performance with low friction coefficient and wear values in comparison to micro-drilled and non-textured liner surfaces. Texture spacing of 2 mm is observed to show a negative effect on tribological performance for every experimental run.