Abstract
Silicon based ceramics easily give low friction coefficient of the order of 0.001 under water lubrication condition. Such low friction with water is a promising technology for environmental demands of no pollution and saving resources and energy. The low friction of silicon based ceramics in water is considered to be achieved by hydrodynamic lubrication, which is attributed to a smooth surface formed by tribo-chemical wear and a tribo-reaction product. In this study multi-scale surface texture to control smoothness of the surface, formation of the reaction products and their achievment speed are proposed. As a result, it is clearly shown that the multi-scale surface texture can provide lower friction, higher loading capacity and wider operating condition with low friction of silicon based ceramics in water.
