Tribological properties of magnetic surface lubricated by ferrofluids

College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, P.R. China

^a e-mail: huangwei@nuaa.edu.cn

Received: 2 March 2012
Revised: 22 May 2012
Accepted: 13 September 2012
Published online: 10 October 2012

Abstract

In this study, arrayed magnetic films were fabricated on the surface of 45# steel (magnetic). The magnetic field distribution of the micro-magnet arrayed surface was studied. Magnetically controlled suspension – ferrofluids was used as lubricant, which can be adsorbed by magnet. The tribological performance of the arrayed surface affected by the factors of micro-magnet, i.e., area ratio (r), thickness of each magnetic film (t) and magnetized or not, was evaluated using a pin-on-disk test rig. The results suggest that the specimen with 5% area ratio of arrayed magnet is the best of tried ones for low friction at the load-speed conditions. Compared with unmagnetized one, the arrayed surface after magnetizing mainly presents obvious anti-friction properties. The higher magnetic intensity of the surface is, the better anti-friction performance it shows at higher sliding speed condition (0.062–0.188 m/s).