Tribology Letters (2018) 66:132

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-018-1086-y

ORIGINAL PAPER

Tribological Behavior of Multi-scaled Patterned Surfaces Machined

Through Inclined End Milling and Micro Shot Blasting
Jesus Resendiz1 · Philip Egberts1   · Simon S. Park1

Received: 22 May 2018 / Accepted: 8 September 2018

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract
Surface texturing is one mechanism that friction coefficients in both dry and lubricated contacts can be reduced compared
with untextured, flat surfaces. End milling and shot blasting are two processes used to produce surface textures, includ-
ing monolithic textures that have one type of surface feature, as well as multi-scale roughness features when two texturing
processes are sequentially used. In such surfaces, we have observed that surface texturing decreases the measured friction
coefficient under lubricated conditions, and that greater reductions in the friction coefficient are observed for those surfaces
that had been both end milled and shot blasted. Simulations replicating the experiments suggest that the greatest factor con-
tributing to the reduced friction observed for the textured surfaces is a result of increased fluid pressure in the contact region
resulting from cavitation of the lubricant. However, a substantial decrease in the depth of the dimples on worn surfaces was
also observed, suggesting that entrapment of wear particles within the surface texture features may also influence the meas-
ured friction coefficient. Alongside friction measurements, analysis of the wear track depth showed that surface texturing
also has a beneficial influence on the calculated Archard wear coefficient.

Keywords  Multi-scaled micro surface patterns · Diamond dimple machining · Shot blasting · Reciprocating tribometer ·
Surface texturing · Oil lubrication

1 Introduction
Engineered surfaces, also referred to as functional surfaces,
consist of repeated micro-scale patterns that can dramati-
cally alter the physical properties of the surface beyond
those related its intrinsic material properties. These surfaces
have been the subject of much research [1], with applications
including wear reduction and enhanced lubrication [2], super
nucleated boiling [3], adhesion modification, and optical dif-
fusers [4]. Many methods exist for the fabrication of surface
patterns, being the most popular laser surface texturing [5].
* Philip Egberts
philip.egberts@ucalgary.ca
Jesus Resendiz
jdejresen@ucalgary.ca
Simon S. Park
simon.park@ucalgary.ca
1
Micro Engineering Dynamics and Automation Laboratory
(MEDAL), Department of Mechanical & Manufacturing
Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr.
NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
Recently, it has been shown that end milling may be a lower
cost alternative that can be used to texture surface with a
wider range of surface patterns [6–8]. However, most meth-
ods used for texturing surfaces result in a single feature size
over entire manufactured parts [5].
Examination of biological surfaces as inspiration for the
design of new engineering materials indicates that hierarchi-
cal surfaces may be more efficient than monolithic surfaces
at reaching their engineering goals [9]. Thus, the objective
of this research will be to determine the feasibility of both
the fabricating hierarchical surfaces and evaluating their per-
formance in engineering systems, specifically as a mecha-
nism to improve lubrication of sliding contacts. Multi-scale
structures can be achieved through a number of different
manufacturing processes. Large-scale surface textures pro-
duced through micro end milling has several advantages over
other techniques used to produce surface textures, including
laser ablation [10], electrical discharge [11], and focused ion
beam milling [12]. Specifically, micro end milling does not
require an expensive, purpose-built facility to produce the
surface textures on metals and other hard materials and can
also be used to produce a number of texture shapes without

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significant re-tooling. Subsequent passes of the textured sur-
faces can result in a hierarchical structure should the later
texturing processes result in surface alterations that have a
significant length-scale advantage over the proceeding tex-
turing process or can be controlled to have this length-scale
contrast.
Surface textures produced through all the aforementioned
texturing methods have been used to create surfaces that
can exhibit significantly lower friction coefficients, or more
specifically, friction coefficients that are greater than 10%
lower than what is possible without surface texturing, in
both dry sliding [6] and fluid [13–19]-lubricated mechani-
cal systems. Significant efforts have been expended to gain
insight into the lubrication mechanisms of textured surfaces
using both experiments and simulations [20, 21]. Despite
these investigations, the exact mechanism by which friction
is reduced through surface texturing is still uncertain and
dependent on a number of factors. For oil-lubricated con-
tacts, several factors including depth of the surface texture,
the impression of the surface made in the texturing process,
and the density of impressions, or dimples as they are often
called, can influence the friction coefficient. More recently,
other factors including the sliding direction relative to the
shape of an asymmetric dimple and contact mechanism can
affect the efficiency of textured surfaces at reducing friction.
Additional parameters have also been investigated, including
the arrangement/staggering of dimples [21], surface rough-
ness outside of the dimpled region [40, 41], aspect ratio of
the dimples [13], dimple shapes [6], and the interplay of
lubricant structure and surface texture [22–24]. Through all
these combinations, three mechanisms have been proposed
to reduce friction through surface texturing: enhancement of
lubricant pressure under elastohydrodynamic sliding; entrap-
ment of wear particles; and storage and subsequent faster
delivery of the lubricant to the sliding interface. However, no
roadmap currently exits to identify under which conditions a
specific lubrication mechanism occurs, which could be used
to make design predictions when developing a mechanical
system enhanced with surface texturing.
In this study, surfaces with multi-scale surface texturing
will be examined to determine if friction can be reduced
beyond monolithically textured surfaces, as well as to gain
further insight into the lubrication mechanisms that occur in
oil-lubricated textured contacts. The quality of the surfaces
produced through micro end milling and subsequent shot
blasting the surface will also be evaluated, as these two sur-
face machining processes are very low cost and can produce
varying length-scale alterations of the surface. Finally, the
impact of surface texturing on the wear exhibited by the sur-
face under varying loads and sliding speeds will be evaluated
both to observe changes in the wear rates, as well as to gain
insight into the friction or sliding mechanism occurring in
lubricated textured contacts.
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Tribology Letters (2018) 66:132
2 Experiments
Aluminum 6061-T6 workpieces with plan view dimensions
of 50 by 50 mm2 were used in all friction experiments. In
all cases, the lubricant used was mineral oil. Four different
surfaces were prepared on the workpieces: flat surfaces, dim-
pled surfaces, shot blasted surfaces, and dimpled shot blasted
surfaces. To create these surfaces, a custom-built computer
numerical control (CNC) micro milling system was used.
In this CNC, an electric spindle (NSK Astro-E 800Z) was
mounted onto a bracket that allowed the spindle to be rotated
at an inclination angle relative to the sample surface and
secured during machining. In every case, the top layer of the
workpieces was first flattened using a flat end mill, leaving
a 2 mm depression on the surface of the workpiece to facili-
tate lubricants. For this process, an uncoated tungsten carbide
(WC) micro end mill (Richards 875-0125) having a diameter
of 0.125 mm, and four flutes, was used. This flattening process
ensured that surfaces had the exact same surface normal and
initial surface roughness in subsequent friction testing, as well
as the ability to store enough lubricant during friction testing.
The flattening process also ensured that all surfaces had the
approximate same roughness before machining dimples or
roughening the surface with shot blasting.
The forces exerted on the workpiece during friction testing
were measured by a piezo-electric table dynamometer (Kistler
9256C2), with resolution of 2 mN and frequency bandwidth of
2 kHz, positioned between the workpiece and the translation
stages. The response of the table dynamometer was amplified
(Kistler 9025B) before recording the signals (National Instru-
ments 9205) at a sampling rate of 1 kHz in the x, y, and z direc-
tions. Following the surface flattening and milling of the oil
reservoir depression, the surfaces were polished using a P800
grit sandpaper to remove machining marks and reduce sur-
face roughness. After treatment, the roughness on a flat work-
piece was measured over a 5 × 5 mm2 area and was always
less than Ra = 0.178 ± 0.02 µm using a contact stylus (Mitu-
toyo SJ-201P). The entire system was mounted and secured
on a vibration isolation table. Experiments were conducted in
laboratory air having a humidity range between 20 and 40%.
The ruby ball was immersed in the oil and was not exposed
to the environment between measurements. A series of meas-
urements were acquired within 1 week, where the humidity
did not vary significantly (less than 5% RH) over the series of
measurements. Thus, the results presented within one graph
are not impacted by variations in humidity.
2.1 Machining of Dimples
Circular-shaped dimples were machined onto the flattened
surfaces using a single crystal diamond cutter with a diam-
eter of 250 µm. These diamond tools are widely used in
Tribology Letters (2018) 66:132 Page 3 of 13  132
machining non-ferrous metals because they have a sharper
edge, a lower friction coefficient when in contact with alu-
minum, and a higher thermal conductivity than conventional
end mills [25]. These tools also show high hardness, low
wear rate, chemical inertness, and low adhesion to most
workpiece materials, which prevents built-up-edge [26].
Resulting from these properties, diamond cutters produce
surface textures with lower variation and more exact toler-
ances than cutters produced from other materials [17]. In
addition, the diamond cutter has only one flute to prevent
non-uniformity of cutting depth caused by oscillations (i.e.,
tool runout) while the micro tool is rotating. Figure 1 shows
a schematic of the arrangement of the electric spindle in
relation to the workpiece during the machining of the micro
dimples.
Fast translation of the workpiece beneath the tilted
ball end mill ensures that a small piece of the workpiece
is removed during every revolution of the end mill. The
machining of circular dimple patterns was realized by trans-
lating the workpiece at a feed rate of 5 mm/secs and a con-
stant depth of 30 µm relative to the flattened surface while
the spindle operated at a rotational speed of 1000 revolu-
tions/minute and was placed at an inclination angle of 60°
relative to the normal of the flattened surface.
2.2 Shot Blasting Particles
Shot blasting particle allowed for the development of
surfaces with a smaller scale of roughness than could be
achieved with the end mill dimple patterning. In this pro-
cess, a micro-abrasive blaster (COMCO ProCenter) was
used to blast 10 µm aluminum oxide micro-abrasive particle
powders (COMCO PD1029-4) at the flattened or dimpled
60°
Micro tool
tilted 60°
Aluminum 6061
Bedplate Workpiece
Fy
Fx
Table
Dynamometer Fz
Fig. 1  Schematic showing the inclination of the spindle relative to the
workpiece allowing for the machining of dimple patterns on flattened
surfaces of the workpiece
surfaces. In this process, the nozzle-surface distance was
25 mm with an air pressure of 0.45 MPa was used. After
blasting the process, the excess sand was removed with
deionized water. A schematic of sandblasting process is
shown in Fig. 2.
2.3 Tribological Test Setup
To perform friction testing on the surfaces of the flat and tex-
tured workpieces, the spindle of the mill was again rotated
such that it was parallel with the normal of the workpiece
surface. The end mill was removed, and one capped with a
6-mm ruby hemisphere was put into the spindle. The spindle
was then translated downwards, allowing the ruby sphere
to make contact with the surface of the workpiece. A pho-
tograph of friction measurement apparatus/tribometer is
shown in Fig. 3.
The workpiece was then translated in a reciprocating
motion beneath the ruby sphere/spindle assembly for 100
cycles for a distance of 2 cm in each direction of the recip-
rocation cycle. The normal applied load was varied from
1 to 25 N and two sliding speeds (0.5 mm/sec and 5 mm/
sec) were used. Hertzian contact pressure for these load
ranges was determined to be 450–1300 MPa, assuming a
Young’s modulus and Poisson ratio of 68.9 GPa and 0.33
for the Al6061-T6 [27] and 345 GPa and 0.28 for the ruby
hemisphere [28], respectively. In comparison to the applied
stresses, the compressive strength for the Al6061-T6 alloy is
310 MPa [27] and 2-2.9 GPa [28] for the ruby hemisphere,
indicating the applied loads are significantly above the yield
stress of the aluminum workpiece.
In all tests, the workpieces were lubricated by mineral
oil (AMRESCO J217), having a viscosity of 14.2–17.0 cS
at 40 °C. A friction coefficient for each reciprocation cycle
was determined by subtracting the lateral forces measured
in the forward sliding direction (+ x) from those measured
in the reverse sliding direction (− x) and then dividing the
Fig. 2  Schematic of the shot blasting process. Dimples of 30 µm were
machined with the end milling set up and then shot blasted with parti-
cles having an average diameter of 10 µm
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 132   Page 4 of 13 Tribology Letters (2018) 66:132

Ruby Hemisphere

Wear Tracks Slider v

Fluid Micro
Dimple
Table Dynamometer Aluminum
Workpiece

Stage Movement Fig. 4  A schematic of the tribological simulation. A slider moves

with a velocity v over a stationary aluminum workpiece with an
applied normal force F. The surface of the aluminum workpiece
Fig. 3  A photograph of friction measurement apparatus/tribometer. A
designed from the surface topography measured from a real surface,
6-mm ruby ball is attached at the end of an end mill held stationary
but contains at most one dimple in the simulation. A fluid between
while the workpiece, attached to 3-axis table dynamometer, is moved
the slider and the aluminum workpiece matching the physical proper-
in a reciprocating motion
ties of the oil used in the experiments is then placed in the sliding
contact
difference by two, and then dividing it by the average normal
force measured during the sliding period.
the one-dimensional Reynold’s equation for the hydrody-
In this calculation, only the middle 60% of the meas-
namic phenomena by average visco-correction on a multi-
ured forces are considered, removing the influence of turn-
block structured grid. The multigrid solution implemented in
ing effects that occur at the start/stop of each reciprocation
the VTL consists of a mesh of approximately 1 × 105 control
cycle. An average friction coefficient for each test was then
volumes [30]. The code also takes into account the asperity
calculated by taking an average of these friction coefficients
contact models based on the Greenwood and Tipp’s formula-
from cycle 20–80, to remove the influence of run-in. Error
tions for the description of the asperity contact between rough
bars reported in the average friction coefficient represent the
surfaces [31]. Cavitation of the lubricant was predicted adopt-
standard deviation in the calculated mean, as shown in Fig. 6.
ing the complementary Swift–Steiber boundary conditions.
As for the lubricant rheology, the viscosity-pressure depend-
2.4 3D Profilometry ence and viscosity-shear-thinning effects were considered as
well [30].
Characterization of the surface before and after friction test-
To replicate the experimental conditions in the VTL
ing was achieved by 3D optical profilometry (Zeta-20 optical
simulations, 2-D profiles of the machined surfaces acquired
profiler), allowing for the determination of the three-dimen-
from the Zeta-20 optical profiler were input into VTL for
sional shape of the textured surfaces. Following friction test-
the base counter surface. Figure 4 shows an schematic of the
ing, the volume of the workpiece that was removed during
simulation components.
sliding experiments was measured by optical profilometry
The top surface was modeled as a flat slider that moved at
through comparison of the surface before texturing and after
0.05 m/s in relation to the bottom dimpled/textured surface.
texturing.
The mechanical properties of the bottom textured surface
matched those of the AL6061-T6 surface, as stated previ-
2.5 Hydrodynamic Simulations ously, and the top flat surface was modeled to have the same
mechanical properties as the ruby hemisphere. Again, using
In order to understand and predict the tribological behavior
Herzian mechanics (Eqs. 1 and 2).
of lubricated textured surfaces, a series of simulations were
carried out using MAHLE Virtual Tribology Laboratory— (
1 − v21 1 − v22
)−1
VTL 3.8 developed by Tomanik et al. [29, 30]. The VTL ∗
E = + (1)
E1 E2
simulates lubrication conditions by simultaneously solving

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Tribology Letters (2018) 66:132 Page 5 of 13  132
) 31
3∗N∗R
(
a= , (2)
4 ∗ E∗
where E* is the reduced Young’s modulus, En is the Young’s
modulus of the n material, νn is the Poisson’s ratio of the n
material. While the contact diameter is denoted by a, R is
the radius of the ruby half-sphere, and N is the applied load.
The contact diameter between the ruby hemisphere and
the aluminum workpiece was estimated to be 64 µm and
190 µm, respectively. Given the relative lateral size of the
dimple (150 µm), a flat slider was chosen to increase com-
putational efficiency as the contact can be simplified as a
flat slider at the larger applied loads. This analysis clearly
indicates that the contact is being subject to a high pressure,
resulting in a high wear and deformation of the work piece
that can be observed directly after testing.
3 Results
An optical image of the surface of the workpiece after dim-
ples were cut into it with the end mill is shown in Fig. 5a.
The optical image shows that the dimples are circular and
approximately 75 µm in radius. Figure 5b shows the line pro-
file taken from red dashed line in the optical image (Fig. 5a)
showing that the dimples have been cut 30 µm below the
flattened surface. This cutting process resulted in the crea-
tion of surface textures having an aspect ratio of 0.2, which
is comparable to the aspect ratio that has been shown to
significantly improve friction coefficients in studies spe-
cifically examining this property of the surface texture [13,
32–36]. In all experiments, this aspect ratio was used and
(a)
50 μm
(b)
Fig. 5  a Plan view optical microscopy image of the dimpled surface.
Dimples were observed to be circular. b Line profile of the height of
the dimples taken through the red dashed line in (a) indicating that
the dimples have a similar height of approximately 30  µm. c Plan
not adjusted to determine the impact of aspect ratio of the
surface texture on the measured friction coefficient in this
study. The shot blasting process was used to texture both the
flat and dimpled surfaces, as mentioned previously. Calibra-
tion of the shot blasting process was done to ensure that
the machined dimples were not completely removed dur-
ing this stage. An example of a surface that had been both
shot blasted and dimpled is shown in Fig. 5c. This optical
image shows a significant change in the surface topography
compared to the dimpled surface. Figure 5d shows a line
profile through the dimples, indicating that the height of
the dimples remained roughly the same as before they were
hard shot blasted. The surface roughness was also measured
on the flat surfaces that had been hard shot blasted, and was
observed to be 0.33 ± 0.02 µm, an increase of 88% from the
flat surfaces.
To summarize the results obtained for the various applied
loads and speeds on the four different surfaces, Fig. 6 pre-
sents a Stribeck curve, including a flat surface, a shot blast
shot surface, a circular dimpled surface, and a blast shot
dimpled surface, the inside caption shows a zoom of the
highest friction coefficient values for all surfaces. Figure 6
also shows a gradual reduction in friction as the surfaces
become textured: the shot blasted surface performed better
than the flat surface, but not as well as the dimpled sur-
face, and the best performance was detected for the surface
that had been both dimpled and hard shot blasted. In Fig. 6,
it also can be observed that surface texturing significantly
impacts the onset of hydrodynamic lubrication, with the
combined dimpled and hard shot blasted reducing the onset
of hydrodynamic lubrication more than the other three sur-
faces. However, the dimpled surface shows a better perfor-
mance in terms of friction coefficient when the applied load
(c)
50 μm
(d)
view optical microscopy image of the dimpled surface after hard shot
blasting. d Line profile of the height of dimples taken through the red
dashed line in (c) indicating that the dimple height remains relatively
unchanged as a result of shot blasting. (Color figure online)
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 132   Page 6 of 13 Tribology Letters (2018) 66:132

explain the effect of film thickness on micro textured sur-

faces and its benefits; Křupka et al. [44] concluded that a
combination between film formation and textured surface
increased the tribological properties of machine parts.
The direct influence of the increased hydrodynamic pres-
sure on the measured Stribeck curves is compared in Fig. 9.

Fig. 6  A comparison between friction coefficients versus velocity/

load for a flat surface, a shot blasted surface, dimple surface, and a
shot blasted dimpled surface under lubricated sliding conditions. All
cases were performed for 100 iterations using both a reciprocation
speed of 0.5 mm/sec and 5 mm/sec. The inset in the top right shows
the section of the graph that is enclosed in the dashed gray square

is increased comparing with the flat surface in both studied

cases, 0.5 mm/sec and 5 mm/sec. The sandblasted dimple
surface shows a much better behavior when a high load was Fig. 7  Profiles of surfaces used during simulations. The top black line
applied comparing with both surfaces. In general, as the represents the profile of the flat surface, the top-middle red line repre-
speed increased the friction coefficient decreased indicat- sents the profile of a shot blasted surface, the bottom-middle blue line
represents the profile of a dimpled surface, and the bottom green line
ing that the lubrication regime transitioned from mixed to
represents the profile of a shot blasted dimpled surface. (Color figure
hydrodynamic lubrication at higher values of the lubrication online)
parameter.
Simulations were performed replicating the sliding con-
ditions and surface structure of the aluminum workpiece,
allowing for the generation of Stribeck curves. More spe-
cifically, these surfaces included a flat surface, a shot blast
surface, a dimpled surface with a single dimple of a depth
of 30 µm and diameter of about 150 µm, and a shot blasted
dimple having the same plan view dimensions but a depth
of only 10 µm. In all cases, a fixed flat surface was used for
the slider and a base oil lubricant with similar characteristics
as was used in experiments was chosen. Figure 7 shows the
profiles of every surface used in simulation process, starting
with a flat surface, then a shot blasted surface, after this a
dimpled surface and finally a shot blasted dimpled surface.
Hydrodynamic simulation results of these surfaces using the
VTL software are shown in Fig. 8.
From simulation results shown in Fig. 8, it is possible to
observe the cavitation effect previously observed in Refs.
[37–43], which results in an increase in the hydrodynamic
Fig. 8  Hydrodynamic pressure profile determined from VTL simula-
load capacity around the divergent region of dimples. Thus, tions of the profiles shown in Fig. 7. The pressure profiles for all sur-
the observed increase in the maximum hydrodynamic pres- faces are shown on one graph to make direct comparisons between
sure with changing the surface structure is generating a lift- the four variations, including a flat surface (black line), shot blasted
flat surface (red line), dimpled surface (blue line), and shot blasted
up force on the sliding counter surface. Moreover, the wider
dimpled surface (green line). The sliding speed was 0.05 m/s and an
width of pressure profiles for the shot blasted dimple case applied load of 10N was used in the simulations that generated these
is observed in Fig. 8. Several studies [44–47] have tried to pressure profiles. (Color figure online)

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Tribology Letters (2018) 66:132 Page 7 of 13  132
The simulation results show enhanced lubrication through
improved hydrodynamic forces, and the experimental
results, whose enhanced lubrication properties are unknown,
show that very good overlap in Fig. 9a, c, and d, correspond-
ing to flat, dimpled, and shot blasted & dimpled surfaces,
but significant variance is observed between experiment and
simulation results in Fig. 9b for the shot blasted surface. This
indicates that either the mechanism responsible for reducing
friction on these roughened surfaces is not captured solely
through hydrodynamic effects. This issue will be discussed
in greater detail in the discussion section.
The film thickness was calculated for the four different
surfaces tested and at the two sliding speeds examined and
an applied load of 10 N, the results of which are summarized
in Table 1. Table 1 shows that the film thickness increased
significantly for those surfaces that contain dimples, com-
pared to the flat surface and the surface that had been shot
blasted only. A small increase in the film thickness was
(a)
(c)
Fig. 9  a Stribeck curve showing acquired experimental data (black
solid line) and simulated (black dashed line) results of a flat surface.
b Stribeck curve showing acquired experimental data (red solid line)
and simulated (red dashed line) results of a shot blasted flat surface.
c Stribeck curve showing acquired experimental data (blue solid
observed when the velocity was increased from 0.5 mm/s
to 5 mm/s. The results show that roughening the surface has
a greater impact at the higher sliding speeds than at slower
sliding speeds, compared to change observed with velocity
for the flat and dimpled surface.
Optical profilometry was conducted to obtain three-
dimensional images of the worn samples after tribological
tests. Figure 10a, b, and c show a plan view optical image of
a flat surface, dimpled surface, and a shot blasted dimpled
surface after friction tests. To measure the wear volume on
these surfaces, a cross section from the three-dimensional
image was taken, as shown in Fig. 11d, e, and f. These line
profiles show the change in the surface as a result of the fric-
tion measurements. A summation of the area removed in the
line profile along the wear scar to determine a volume lost
allowed for the determination of wear coefficients.
Comparing the initial depth of the dimples, which was
approximately 30 µm as shown in Fig. 5b and d, with the
(b)
(d)
line) and simulated (blue dashed line) results of a dimpled surface. d
Stribeck curve showing acquired experimental data (green solid line)
and simulated (green dashed line) results of a shot blasted dimpled
surface. (Color figure online)
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 132   Page 8 of 13 Tribology Letters (2018) 66:132

Table 1  Maximum values of film thickness separating the aluminum corresponding absolute wear volume versus load for each
workpiece and the slider at 0.5 mm/sec and 5 mm/sec and an applied of the surfaces is presented in Fig. 11, for both the dim-
load of 10 N
ple surface and the shot blasting dimpled surface, the vol-
Surface Max. Film thick- Max. Film ume due dimple cavity was not considered as part of wear
ness at 0.5 mm/sec thickness at measurement.
5 mm/sec
A significant decrease in the wear rate of shot blasted
Flat surface 0.27 µm 0.42 µm dimpled surfaces when compared with a flat surface for both
Shot blasted flat surface 0.69 µm 0.84 µm speeds 0.5 mm/sec and 5 mm/sec is shown in Fig. 11. Over-
Dimple surface 68.05 µm 76.03 µm all, Archard’s wear coefficient was higher on the flat surfaces
Shot blasted dimpled surface 68.17 µm 93.7 µm compared with any textured surface regardless the recipro-
cation speed. Comparing with a flat surface; shot blasted
Film thicknesses were determined as the distance from the flat sur-
face outside of the dimpled region to the top of the slider in the VTL surface have a wear reduction of 8.5% and 7% using a speed
simulations of 0.5 mm/sec and 5 mm/sec. Dimpled surface shows a wear
reduction of 23% and 20% with a speed of 0.5 mm/sec and
5 mm/sec., respectively. Finally, shot blasted dimpled sur-
depth measured in Fig. 11e and f, shows that the dimples face has a wear reduction of 30% and 30% when the recip-
have decreased in depth substantially. In fact, their depth rocation speed was 0.5 mm/sec and 5 mm/sec., respectively.
was only approximately 3–17 µm in the worn region. Given
that the wear track itself is only 1–3 µm deep in Fig. 11e and
f, we see that wear particles or other debris have filled the 4 Discussion
dimples significantly over the course of the measurement.
After tribological tests and similar to the procedure In general, most studies have shown that the hydrodynamic
presented by Timothy et al. [48], the area both below and pressure built in the liquid between the two surfaces is
above the zero level was integrated and multiplied by the enhanced in elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL), thus
track length to determine the total wear rate considering the typically moving the onset of EHL to higher loads, as well
Archard equation presented by Mandal et al. [49]. as lower velocities and lubricant viscosities [20, 46, 47].
However, other studies have shown that the textured surfaces
K∗l∗P
V= , (3) allow for wear particles to be trapped in the surface textures,
3∗H
reducing friction between the surfaces [34, 50, 51]. The third
where K is the wear coefficient, l is the sliding distance, mechanism that has been observed is that surface texturing
P is the applied load, and H is the material hardness. The acts as a lubricant reservoir, allowing it to reach the sliding

(a) (b) (c)

50 μm 50 μm 50 μm

(d) (e) (f)

Fig. 10  Optical images of the worn surface on a flat surface, b dim- shows the wear profile of d flat surface, e dimpled surface, and f a
pled surface, and c a shot blasting dimpled surface after a tribological shot blasting dimpled surface. The red dotted line indicates the posi-
test. These scratches were taken from samples where a reciprocation tion where the wear profiles were taken. (Color figure online)
speed of 5 mm/sec and applied load of 15 N was used. Also, Fig. 8

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Tribology Letters (2018) 66:132 Page 9 of 13  132
(a)
(c)
Fig. 11  a Comparison of average wear versus applied load with a
reciprocation speed of 0.5 mm/sec for the flat surface (black squares),
sandblasted flat surface (red triangles), dimple surface (blue inverted
triangles), and sandblasted dimple surface (green circles). Dashed
lines in the same colors as the data points represent linear fits to
the wear volume versus normal force data, where the intercept was
forced to 0  N. The slopes of these fits are 8700 ± 100 µm3/Nm (flat
surface), 8000 ± 100 µm3/Nm (shot blasted surface), 6700  ± 700
µm3/Nm (dimpled surface), and 6000 ± 70 µm3/Nm (shot blasted
dimpled surface). b Archard wear coefficients calculated from the
slopes determined in (a), the measured hardness of the aluminum
work piece (141 ± 7 MPa), and the length of the wear track measured
(300 µm). c Comparison of average wear versus applied load with a
interface faster [15, 51, 52]. We believe that we have directly
observed two of these three mechanisms in the textured sur-
faces examined in our reciprocating tribometer.
First, the experimental study of the influence of surface
texturing has shown that texturing the surface does indeed
reduce the friction coefficient compared with the flat sur-
face, consistent with previous studies of textured surfaces
[53–55]. Both randomly roughening the surface and pur-
posefully texturing the surface individually reduced friction,
as shown in Fig. 6. The combined influence of the two shows
that improved performance can be made when the surface
(b)
(d)
reciprocation speed of 5 mm/sec. for the flat surface (black squares),
sandblasted flat surface (red triangles), dimple surface (blue inverted
triangles), and sandblasted dimple surface (green circles). Dashed
lines in the same colors as the data points represent linear fits to
the wear volume versus normal force data, where the intercept was
forced to 0  N. The slopes of these fits are 1200 ± 100  µm3/Nm (flat
surface), 1120 ± 100  µm3/Nm (shot blasted surface), 970 ± 70  µm3/
Nm (dimpled surface), and 850 ± 70  µm3/Nm (shot blasted dimpled
surface). d Archard wear coefficients calculated from the slopes
determined in (c), the measured hardness of the aluminum work piece
(141 ± 7 MPa), and the length of the wear track measured (300 µm).
(Color figure online)
has a hierarchical surface texture to it. While a shift of the
Stribeck curve to the left or right was not observed in Fig. 6,
a general trend of improved friction coefficients for a given
Stribeck coefficient or Hersey number was observed in the
mixed and EHL regimes. Post-mortem analysis through the
optical profilometry images in Fig. 8 shows that most of the
surface texture and the roughness induced by shot blasting
were removed in the contact region, so the influence that
these two surface texturing strategies have on friction must
occur beyond the contacting region between the workpiece
and the ruby hemisphere. While the observed results indicate
13
 132   Page 10 of 13
a widening of the mixed and elastohydrodynamic lubrication
regime, the most often reported influence of surface textur-
ing has been to improve hydrodynamic lubrication [16, 42,
54, 56, 57]. Despite this fact, surface texturing has also been
shown to improve boundary and mixed lubrication [21, 33,
55, 58–60]. Thus, the results here indicate the complexity
of understanding lubrication enhanced by surface texturing,
which requires further examination to truly understand.
Simulations conducted using the VTL software pack-
age support the mechanism through enhanced lubrication.
While the simulation results do not capture the wear damage
caused through sliding that was observed in the experiments,
they do recover the basic structure of the Stribeck curve for
the various patterned surfaces, and show the same decrease
in measured coefficients with the change in surface topogra-
phy through the four samples. This observation suggests that
the primary mechanism influencing the friction coefficient
measured during lubricated sliding conditions is the buildup
of hydrodynamic pressure. Despite the good reproduction
of the experimental Stribeck curves at higher values of the
Hersey number, the poor reproduction of the experimental
results at lower values of the Hersey number is likely a result
of the one-dimensional mathematical modeling implemented
in VTL software package, which is insufficient to reproduce
the three-dimensional flows that occur in the experiments.
More specifically, the simulations disregard any type of
influence of the two-dimensional effects on the flow fluid
through the micro-cavities present in the contact interface
[30].
To interpret the observed Stribeck curves in more detail,
the simulations show that there is a significant impact on the
film thickness with the change in surface structure. Similar
results have been observed previously, where higher sliding
speeds and deeper surface features resulted in a decrease in
the measured friction coefficient on textured surfaces [61],
likely a result of improved fluid film thickness. Further-
more, the observed improvement in the friction coefficient
observed between surface roughening through shot blasting
compared with surface texturing, the latter which generates
much deeper surface features, is consistent with the results
observed in Ref [61]. In samples where shot blasting was
conducted for longer times, resulting in a significant portion
of the dimples removed (only 5 µm remained), we observed
a significant increase in the friction coefficient compared
with those that remained at approximately 30 µm depth. This
fact also suggests that the dimples on the surface were con-
tributing more strongly to the measured reduction in friction
than the surface texture created by shot blasting. Finally,
the observation of the friction coefficients converging to the
same values at high values of the Hersey number for all
surfaces is likely a result of viscous fluid forces and other
friction mechanisms overwhelming the contribution of the
improved fluid pressure developed in the sliding interface
13
Tribology Letters (2018) 66:132
by the surface texturing pattern in reducing friction [10, 18,
58, 62].
Secondly, the post-mortem examination of the surfaces
shows that the wear scars are typically on the order of a
few micrometer deep into the surface. However, while the
dimples were 30 µm deep before friction testing, they were
less than 10 µm deep after friction testing. The results sug-
gest that the dimples are being filled in with by-products of
sliding, suggesting that the capturing of wear particles and
other contaminants that may influence the friction coefficient
on the untextured surfaces is also important to the observed
reduction on the dimpled surfaces. The production and stor-
age of wear particles or other by-products of sliding were
not captured in the simulations. While the simulations did
not replicate the experiments in this respect, the good over-
lap between simulations and experiments resulting from the
increased hydrodynamic lubrication that resulted from the
surface texturing suggests that the trapping of wear particles
and other debris does not play a significant factor in reducing
the friction coefficient in textured surfaces.
Finally, the calculation of the wear coefficient provides us
with some greater insight into the friction and wear perfor-
mance of the surfaces. The reduced friction with surface tex-
turing appears to be linked with reduced wear in every case.
Additionally, wear coefficients approximately one order of
magnitude smaller when the velocity was increased from
0.5 mm/s to 5 mm/s, as shown in Fig. 11. Linking Fig. 11
with Fig. 6 and the trends observed with the Hersey number,
it suggests that EHL lubrication and the associated low wear
rates that were indeed achieved at the low applied loads and
high sliding speeds, given the reduced friction forces and
wear coefficients. Thus, the observation of reduced friction
coefficients attributed to enhanced fluid pressure resulting
from the surface texturing is supported by the observation
of the lowered wear rates also observed with surface textur-
ing. Variation in the dimple spacing or size may result in
a variation in the relative contribution in the reduction of
friction of increased hydrodynamic pressure in the contact
versus wear particle entrapment, but would require further
experimentation to verify this hypothesis.
5 Conclusion
In this study, multi-scaled micro textured surfaces were cre-
ated by shot blasting and end milling of flat aluminum 6061-
T6 surfaces. The performance of these surfaces in reducing
friction was evaluated with a reciprocating tribometer by
pressing a 6-mm ruby hemisphere against the aluminum
surfaces and sliding them at 0.5 mm/s or 5 mm/s under
mineral oil-lubricated conditions. The performance of the
textured surfaces having a constant aspect ratio of 0.2 was
evaluated through their sliding speed and load-dependent
Tribology Letters (2018) 66:132 Page 11 of 13  132
friction coefficients, as well as their sliding speed and load-
dependent wear rates. The best performance for this surface
texture shape, in terms of low friction coefficients and wear
rates, was those surfaces that had been textured with dim-
ples and subsequently shot blasted, while flat, untextured
surfaces performed the worse. The combined influence of
shot blasting and dimple surface textures had a synergistic
influence on the friction coefficient, suggesting that surface
roughness of surface textures is an unrealized mechanism
to further improve the friction and wear performance of
textured surfaces. Surface texturing resulted in a lowering
of the minimum friction coefficient that could be attained.
This minimum value occurred at approximately the same
Hersey number for all surfaces. Surface textures were simu-
lated using the VTL software package, which closely repro-
duced the experimental friction results. This good agree-
ment between simulation and experiment suggests that the
primary friction reducing mechanism was through enhanced
fluid pressure at the contact resulting from the presence of
the dimples. The increased fluid pressure, and associated
increasing fluid thickness in the contact, also provides a
mechanism for the reduced wear rates observed on textured
surfaces. Post-mortem analysis of the surfaces showed that
significant wear debris was also captured by the dimples,
indicating a second friction reducing mechanism that has a
less significant influence on the measured friction coefficient
compared with the increased fluid pressure.
Acknowledgements  We would like to acknowledge to Consejo
Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT) México, and the Natu-
ral Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada
for providing funds to support the study, and Carrie Lin for her help to
develop the wear analysis code.
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