Effect of microtexture morphology on the tribological properties of PI/EP-PTFE-WS2 coating under starved oil and dry sliding wear

The limited wear resistance of aluminum alloys constrained their applications and longevity. Surface microtexture combined with polymer coating technology can prolong the service life of aluminum alloy materials under extreme conditions of aerospace. A370 aluminum specimens were textured with three types of microtexture surfaces including circular pits, rectangular grooves and cross grids. A PI/EP-PTFE/WS2 coating was designed and prepared on the surfaces of these textures by liquid spraying to improve the tribological properties of A370 aluminum under starved oil and dry sliding wear. The influences of different micro-texture morphology on the tribological performances of these coatings were experimented. The results indicated that the surface qualities of the micro-textures are improved by coating deposition on their surfaces. The friction coefficients of the coated surfaces on all micro-texture are effectively reduced under the relatively stable wear stage compared to the sample without micro-texture coating. The coating on the pitted texture exhibits superior performance in friction tests, reducing average coefficients and wear rate by 13.58% and 35.34% in dry sliding wear, and by 16.18% and 83.98% under the starved oil lubrication compared to the non-textured substrate, respectively. This is followed by the coating on cross-mesh texture and the rectangular groove texture. The reason is that the pitted texture facilitates the local stress release of coating during the process of coating deposition due to its smaller spacing between pits and higher density of pits per unit area. The bearing capacity of the pitted texture is highest and its deformation is the lowest. The wear debris created in the friction process is more easily accumulated in the pit units, which results in a reduction in wear.