Improving tribological performance of gray cast iron by laser peening in dynamic strain aging temperature regime

Abstract

A high and stable brake disc friction coefficient is needed for automobile safety, while the coefficient degrades due to elevated temperature during the braking process. There is no better solution except changes in material composition and shape design optimization. In the dynamic strain aging(DSA) temperature regime of gray cast iron, micro-dimples with different dimple depth over diameter and surface area density are fabricated on the material surface by laser peening(LP) which is an LST method. Friction behavior and wear mechanism are investigated to evaluate the effects of surface texturing on the tribological performance of specimens under dry conditions. Through LP impacts assisted by DSA, the friction coefficients of the LPed specimens increase noticeably both at room temperature and elevated temperature in comparison to untreated specimens. Moreover, the coefficient of specimen with dimple depth over diameter of 0.03 and surface area density of 30% is up to 0.351 at room temperature, which dramatically rises up to 1.33 times that of untextured specimen and the value is still up to 0.3305 at 400°C with an increasing ratio of 35% compared to that of untreated specimen. The surface of textured specimen shows better wear resistance compared to untreated specimen. Wear mechanism includes adhesive wear, abrasive wear and oxidation wear. It is demonstrated that LP assisted by DSA can substantially improve wear resistance, raise the friction coefficient as well as its stability of gray cast iron under elevated temperatures. Heat fade and premature wear can be effectively relieved by this surface modification method.