Running-in effect on the load-carrying capacity of a water-lubricated SiC thrust bearing

It is known the friction of self-mated SiC in water strongly depends on the roughness of their contact surfaces, and a proper running-in process is the way to obtain low friction by smoothing the contact surfaces of SiC with tribochemical wear. In this paper, the running-in process of surface- contacted SiC (thrust-bearing- type contact) in water is studied experimentally. It is found the maximum running-in load has a large influence on the load-carrying capacity, which is measured as the critical load for the transition from hydrodynamic to mixed lubrication in this research. A multi-step loading running-in method is proposed to increase the load-carrying capacity of SiC thrust bearings working in water. Finally, the running-in process of a laser textured SiC surface is studied, the effect of the pore area ratio on the roughness of the run-in surface is reported, and the mechanism of the effect of micropores is discussed.