Femtosecond-Laser-Induced Surface Texturing of Al-Si Alloy for Lower Friction Surface

Abstract

We have investigated femtosecond-laser-induced surface texturing of Al-Si alloy for reducing friction. Although it had been reported for typical metal substrates such as stainless steel that the Laser-Induced Periodic Surface Structure (LIPSS) had effects for lowering the coefficient of friction, we focused our experiments on the Al-Si alloy used in industrial equipments. It was demonstrated that the surface roughness could be controlled by adjusting irradiated laser fluences due to the differences of ablation properties between Al and Si. It was confirmed that the coefficient of friction was reduced about 20% for the textured surfaces.