Comprehensive evaluation of surface parameter correlation in running-in wear process

Abstract

The first wear process is running-in, which is a stage of each machine system must go through. The friction pair’s surface topography is an important feature of the running-in process. After running-in, the surface topography directly affects the performance in stable working state. The wear performance of the contact pair was focused on by mostly existing studies after a time; however, we should consider the correlation of the surface topography before and after running-in. In fact, exploration of this problem is significantly important to extend the service life of machine parts and improve the running performance. Based on the three-dimensional (3D) surface topography parameter evaluation method, in this study, experiments were designed to analyze the effect of the unworn surface topography on that after running-in, and investigated the correlation of 3D surface topography parameters. The results demonstrated that the topography characterization parameters, i.e., Sa, Sq, Sv, Sdc, Str, Sdq, and Sdr under different working conditions maintained a strong autocorrelation (the correlation coefficient of the same parameter). Moreover, the cross-correlation (the correlation coefficient between different parameters) among height parameters (Sq), hybrid parameters (Sdq, Sdr), and functional parameters (Sdc, Sk) was strong. The results of the surface roughness parameters found in this study can be used as input and output feature selection research based on working conditions and surface topography prediction after the modeling research of running-in surface topography.