Influence of tribo-magnetization on wear debris trapping processes of textured dimples

The mechanism of attachment of wear debris to textured dimples was investigated experimentally. Textured dimples were fabricated on the surface of medium carbon steel specimen with drilling method. Reciprocating ball on disc sliding wear experiments were carried out. The dimples trapped with wear debris and worn surfaces were observed with microscope. Tribo-magnetization of wear debris was employed to explain the attachment of debris in dimples. The size of wear debris and magnetic flux density of worn surfaces were measured. Wear experiments processes were also carried out under degaussing conditions. The experimental results show that tribo-magnetization causes the phenomena of attachment and bridging of wear debris to edge of textured dimples. By applying degaussing method, attachment of wear debris within textured dimples can be reduced. For comparison, coefficients of friction, wear mass loss of specimens and wear volume loss of mating balls were measured under both conditions of non-degaussing and degaussing. Degaussing can be beneficial to improve the capacity of trapping wear debris of textured dimples for ferromagnetic materials, and to improve the wear resistance of dimple textured specimen.