Influence of Surface Texture on Friction and Vibration Characteristics of Solid-Lubricated Thrust Ball Bearings

Abstract Conventional liquid-lubricated thrust ball bearings often suffer from lubrication failure under extreme operating conditions, making it difficult to maintain long-term stable service performance. To address this limitation, this study proposes a textured solid-lubrication strategy by coupling surface texturing with a paraffin-based composite solid lubricant, with particular attention to how texture location and geometry govern friction-vibration stability and lubricating-film behavior. Based on Hertzian contact theory, seven groups of surface textures with different locations, widths, and depths were designed and introduced into the bearing raceway. A textured bearing lubrication system was then fabricated through laser texturing and melt filling. Tribological experiments were carried out on a vertical friction and wear tester, during which friction force and vibration acceleration were synchronously collected. The results show that the tribological performance of the bearing is highly sensitive to texture configuration. When the texture was positioned within the high-frequency contact zone of the rolling balls, with a width of 0.5 mm and a depth of 320 μm, the average friction force decreased by 96.36% compared with that of the untextured bearing, while the vibration response became significantly more stable. The improved performance is closely associated with the regulation of lubricant film formation, retention, and failure by the texture location and geometry. These findings provide useful guidance for the design of textured solid-lubricated rolling bearings and deepen the understanding of the structure-performance relationship in solid-lubrication systems under severe conditions.