Tribological properties of AISI 4140 steel reinforced by bioinspired topological texture and multi-solid lubricants under starved lubrication

Improving the tribological properties of AISI 4140 steel (AS) by texture combined with SnAgCu (SAC) will cause the loss of lubricants too fast. Herein, problem was solved by adding MXene-Ti3C2/nano-TiC (MNT) into SAC to prepare multi-solid lubricants. Friction tests with contact pressures of 219.07, 347.76 and 471.98 MPa were respectively carried out to study effect of lubricant components and contents (0–10 wt%) on tribological properties of AS under starved lubrication. Compared with those of AS-SAC, COF and wear depth of AS-SAC-MNT containing 4 wt% MNT were decreased by 24.29% and 41.59%, respectively. The excellent tribological properties of AS-SAC-MNT were attributed to the formation of a stable solid lubricating film and improved adsorption ability of material to oil.