Surface Treatments for Generating Wear Resistant LIPSS-Structured Surfaces

Abstract The increasing awareness of environmental concerns has intensified efforts to develop new sustainable and environmentally friendly tribological systems. One promising approach involves the use of Laser-Induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS) in combination with deionized water as a lubricant. However, a significant limitation of LIPSS lies in their insufficient wear resistance. The aim of this study is to identify a suitable surface treatment that significantly improves the wear resistance of LIPSS. This is achieved through consistent topographical, mechanical, and tribological analyses of various surface treatments. This allows, for the first time, a clear recommendation as to which surface treatment, in combination with LIPSS, offers the best potential for bringing LIPSS into widespread technical application. Experimental investigations, including pin-on-plate tribological tests, microhardness measurements, and surface topography analyses, reveal substantial potential for improving friction and wear behavior through LIPSS-structured titanium nitride (TiN) coatings. This combination exhibits the most favorable performance, achieving a low coefficient of friction (0.10 ± 0.01), the lowest surface wear ((2.42 ± 1.16)∙10 –7 mm 3 /N∙m) and the second-lowest pin wear ((4.93 ± 1.12)∙10 –7 mm 3 /N∙m) among all evaluated surface treatments. In conclusion, the findings of this study underscore the potential of LIPSS-structured TiN coatings for bringing LIPSS into widespread technical application.