Texture Shape Optimization for Seal-Like Parallel Surfaces: Theory and Experiment

The geometric shape of surface textures has a major influence on the tribological performance of textured surfaces. This study aims to improve the tribological performance of seal-like specimens with a circular ring configuration by introducing novel texture geometries that generate the highest load-carrying capacity (LCC). A numerical optimization approach is presented to determine the optimum texture shapes for a ring geometry with different constraints on the textured area. The results show that the optimum textures of different area ratios (ARs) have similar chevron shapes with flat fronts. Also presented are the tribological test results of the optimum texture shape (AR = 20%) and their comparison with three regular shapes. It is found that the optimum texture shape provides the lowest friction coefficient under different test conditions.