Study of the effect of surface laser texture on tribological properties of cemented carbide materials

Surface texturing has become a potential method to obtain a low friction coefficient under dry/lubricated conditions for different mechanical product surfaces. The mechanism of friction and wear reduction from a micro-texture on the surface of cemented carbide cutting tools was investigated by dry cutting a titanium alloy. Three kinds of micro-textures, namely, line, sinusoidal and rhombic grooves, with different area occupancy rates were produced by a laser on the cemented carbide surface. Experiments and finite element simulation of ABAQUS were used to investigate the tribological characteristics of micro-textured cemented carbide. The results indicated that the line-textured cemented carbide with an area occupancy rate of 10% showed a low friction coefficient of 0.076, which is approximately 34% of the non-textured sample. Few adhesives appeared on the textured surface, while a large number of adhesives were attached to the smooth surface after 30 min of dry friction between the cemented carbide and the titanium alloy balls. Moreover, among the three textures, the line-groove texture has the smallest friction coefficient and a good anti-wear effect. The results show that the existence of a groove texture can effectively reserve the wear debris, reduce the bond wear and weaken the furrow effect.