Scientists from the UdGU Laboratory of Physics and Chemistry of Materials together with researchers from the M.N. Mikheev Institute of Metal Physics of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Udmurt Federal Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Udmurt State Agrarian University presented an innovative surface treatment technology to reduce friction and wear in sliding bearings.
Plain bearings are designed to reduce friction between moving parts and are widely used in the automotive industry, aviation, shipbuilding, and various industrial equipment. However, for all its simplicity and reliability, plain bearings have one drawback – they function normally only in the presence of a lubricating film. At high pressure, high or low temperatures, the operation of sliding bearings becomes problematic.
The new technology of processing of sliding bearings allows to solve the problem of dependence on the lubricating film. The scientists' development is a special alloy of steel and bismuth obtained after surface treatment with a short-pulse laser. Steel discs with a bismuth-doped surface showed high wear resistance and low coefficient of friction. As a result, the new metal processing method allows sliding bearings to function without a lubricating film even at high speeds up to 32 m/s, which occur during turbine operation.
In the future, the new development of scientists can be modified to meet the needs of various branches of mechanical engineering, besides, this metalworking technology is economical, simple and suitable for mass production.
At the annual Session of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the problem of "Radiation solid state Physics" (December 18-20, 2023), the work of the Head of the UdSU Laboratory of Physics and Chemistry of Materials E.N. Kharanzhevsky "Obtaining super-lubricating coatings on steel using short-pulse laser processing" was valued as the most important result in the field of radiation solid state physics in 2023.
The new development was created within the framework of the strategic project "Creation of the Center for Smart Competencies of the Digital Transformation of the Udmurt Republic" of the Priority 2030 program.