Effects of oil retention property for sinusoidal textures on tribological characteristics under scarcity oil supply

Abstract Continuous and proper oil lubrication between the friction pair can reduce wear and increase service life of mechanical components. In this paper, the friction experiment and finite element analysis method are combined to study the tribological properties and oil retention mechanism of sinusoidal textured under various width-depth ratios and oil supply. The results indicate that the sinusoidal texture can improve tribological property. ST-3 (the width-to-depth ratio is 1.35) has optimal oil retention property. Compared with untextured specimens (UT), the wear and friction coefficient of ST-3 are reduced by 74% and 7.7%, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum positive pressure is proportional to the non-friction area. This research provides a basis for the optimization design of texture.