Tribological behavior of zirconia ceramic with micro-channels produced by nanosecond laser

Tribological performance of surface can be improved by laser texturing. For this purpose, this paper fabricated the grid-texture composed of micro-channels by nanosecond laser on the zirconia surface. To obtain micro-channel with high-quality, the effect of laser parameter on the morphology and geometry of micro-channels was investigated. The results showed that the laser power has lest effect on the taper angle and the height of pile up. Analysis of chemical properties indicated that a deoxidation reaction by laser irradiating can led to oxygen vacancy decreasing and color darkening, and this color variation can be diminished by the annealing treatment. Analysis of phase properties showed that internal stress resulting from oxygen vacancy decreasing can led to the tetragonal → monoclinic phase transformation. Finally, grid-textures composed by micro-channels with better quality obtained from the experimental results were fabricated to change the tribology of zirconia. Results of wear tests indicated that the coefficient of friction for the laser-treated is higher and more stable than that of untreated. The observation of worn surface indicated that adhered lamellar for laser-treated was less than that on the untreated surface, and abrasive particles can be observed in microgrooves produced by laser, which can decrease ploughing effect to improve the friction stability.