Modeling and analysis for surface texturing on soft sliders in mixed lubrication

Experiments have shown that surface texturing can enhance the tribological properties of bearings and seals made of soft materials such as polymers. However, the underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood and lack theoretical research. In this study, a mixed elastohydrodynamic model is specifically developed to explore the tribological behaviors of textured soft sliders. This model couples the flow, cavitation, deformation, and contact equations, considering both normal and shear stress effects with the fast Fourier transform method. The local deformation, contact and hydrodynamic pressure distributions of soft surfaces with multi-dimples are obtained, and a parametric study for the circular, triangular and partial texturing is conducted. It is found that the local deformations in different dimples may have a synergistic effect on providing additional hydrodynamic load support, termed the “barrel-like equivalent surface effect”. The textures concentrate the contact pressure at the dimple edges but may reduce the average contact pressure.