Effects of Surface Textures on the Tribological Performance of Lubricated Concentrated Point Contacts

This paper presents the investigations on the tribological performance characteristics of textured (comprising of tiny dimples of cylindrical, rectangular prism, and elliptic prism geometries) EHL (elastohydrodynamically lubricated) concentrated point contacts at different operating parameters under steady conditions. The computational investigation involves the coupled solution of incompressible Reynolds lubrication equation, elastic deformation relation of mating solids and rheological relations of lubricant. The textured concentrated point contacts’ performance parameters (pressure profile, film thickness, and friction coefficients) have been evaluated and compared with the conventional contacts at different loads (characterised in terms of Hertzian pressure) and speeds. The results have revealed a substantial decrease (varying in the range 11–45%) in the frictional coefficient and a significant increase (varying in the range 9–27%) in minimum film thickness in presence of textures as compared to the conventional contact cases.