Track: Undergraduate Research Competition

Abstract

Surface texturing is a process that enhances the tribological properties of different materials. This topic has been widely studied because it is a tool that saves resources such as materials, money, and time. To obtain the most useful set of parameters to get the smallest Coefficient of Friction (COF), several simulations in the program COMSOL were made, varying depth, width, texture density and oil film thickness. Design of experiments with the methodology of Box Behnken was applied through Minitab to reduce the number of simulations that had to be performed (from 81 to 27 runs), and to identify the most significant parameter that provided a lower COF. Minitab showed that every input parameter (oil film thickness, width, depth, % textured area) has an important role for reducing COF, being the most important the lubricant film thickness. The results showed us improvements depending on the lubrication regime ranging from 60% and 95% where the greatest decreases in COF were observed in boundary lubrication conditions. This demonstrates the importance of texturing for reducing the COF in Tribological tests and the potential it has for manufacturing processes, as well as the use of simulation programs to help reduce the consumption of laboratory resources. A design guide was made including Minitab and COMSOL for different manufacturing processes considering boundary, mixed and hydrodynamic lubrication.