Motifs Based Characterization Of Surface Topography And Their Correlation With Tribological Characteristics

Surface topography plays an important role in friction, wear, lubrication, sealing, mating, painting and electroplating. It also has great influence on the whole working performance, lifetime, noise and vibration of components after assembling. The design and control of manufactured surface which makes surface topography, is one of the basic measures to improve longevities, performances and efficiency of machines. And characterization of surface topography is the basis of surface design and control.The author studies the 2D-motif method (ISO 12085-1966), completes its algorithm, uses it to characterize the profile of cylinder liner , and obtains seven roughness and waviness parameters of the profile. In order to perfect the 2D-motif system and give a better guidance to surface topography design, the author studies the correlation between 2D-motif parameters and surface tribological characteristics through experiments on a reciprocating cylinder liner-piston ring tribometer. It also provides some experiences for future study.The author establishes the 3D-motif system .The motifs are defined as the catchment basins of the surface, surrounded by watershed lines. By using watershed algorithm to obtain the original partition of the surface, the single motifs are combined to bigger and more meaningful ones through different thresholds, and eight parameters are proposed to characterize them: the depth, the surface, the length, the width, the orientation, the flatness coefficient, the anisotropy rate and the motif volume at overflowing point .Surface functional texture is well characterized by this method when applied to several actual and simulated surfaces. It offers a method to function-oriented surface characterization.