18 / 2021-06-23 10:09:35

Investigation on tribological performance of face seal with squamous groove micro texture

Face seal; squamous groove micro texture; circular dimple micro texture; friction and wear

Mechanical seal is the critical and basic component of fluid machinery equipment, and the friction characteristics of the sealing end face are the key factors to determine the reliable operation and service life of the mechanical seal. To improve the tribological characteristics of the face seal, the squamous groove micro textures with different area ratio and long half axis were designed and fabricated on the seal ring SiC surface, and the circular dimple micro texture was machined as the contrast texture. The disc-disc friction and wear experiments under different loads and different rotational speeds were carried out in oil lubrication. The results show that the friction coefficients of the micro textured and smooth samples decrease with the increase of load, but increase and then decrease with the increase of rotational speed. Micro textured samples can effectively reduce the friction coefficient, and the squamous groove micro textured sample has better antifriction effect than the circular dimple micro textured sample. The squamous groove micro textured samples with the area ratio of 14.6% and the long half axis of 1.1 mm show the lower friction coefficient. The friction coefficient of the squamous groove micro textured sample is 0.069 at the rotational speed of 800 rpm and the load of 500 N, which is 19.6% lower than that of the smooth sample and 4% lower than that of the circular dimple micro textured sample. In addition, the micro textured samples show lower friction temperature and less wear marks along the circumference. The existence of micro texture can effectively increase the dynamic pressure effect of lubricating oil film, and accelerate the transformation of lubricating oil film from mixed lubrication state to full oil lubrication state.