B.

Denkena
e-mail: denkena@ifw.uni-hannover.de
J. Köhler
e-mail: koehler@ifw.uni-hannover.de
J. Kästner
e-mail: kaestner@ifw.uni-hannover.de
T. Göttsching1
e-mail: goettsching@ifw.uni-hannover.de
Institute of Production Engineering
and Machine Tools (IFW),
Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
F. Dinkelacker
e-mail: dinkelacker@itv.uni-hannover.de
H. Ulmer
e-mail: ulmer@itv.uni-hannover.de
Institute of Technical Combustion (ITV),
Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
Efficient Machining
of Microdimples for
Friction Reduction
In order to improve the tribological properties of thermomechanically highly stressed
surfaces such as cylinder liners, microdimples are produced by fly-cutting kinematics
along the functional surface. The structures are used to hold back lubricant but also to
increase the hydrodynamic pressure, which is built up between the sliding friction part-
ners. For that, machining strategies for the pattern generation in cylindrical components
are developed as well as a mathematical model of the microdimple arrangement and dis-
tribution. The tribological performance of the machined microdimples is analyzed by
means of ring-on-disk experiments. At low sliding speeds the friction coefficient can be
decreased clearly by microdimples. This indicates the potential for low-speed or recipro-
cating tribosystems like cylinder liners. This potential is quantified by motor driven
experiments and the comparison between structured and nonstructured cylinder liners. A
honed (fine) liner with additional microdimples along the interstice area shows friction
losses up to 19% compared to standard honed nonstructured cylinder liner.
[DOI: 10.1115/1.4023757]
Keywords: micromachining, friction reduction, cylinder liner

Introduction regularly in series, the pressure built up develops periodically

(Fig. 1(b)). Nowadays, microdimples become more and more
Surface textures are successfully used in many applications to
interesting for automotive applications like cylinder liners [6].
improve the functional performance of surfaces [1]. They have
However, to establish microdimples for applications in the auto-
been applied in engines [2], turbines [3], mechanical seals [4], and
motive sector, they have to be implemented in a repeatable and
data storage systems [5]. Particularly the advantageous efficiency
efficient way. In recent years, laser machining as a microstructur-
of microdimpled surfaces is used in many tribosystems. In this
ing method has particularly been further developed [7,8]. When
case, basically two different mechanisms lead to an improvement
creating geometrically defined microdimples within minimum tol-
of the tribological surface performance. The first effect is that
erances, the rather high productivity of this method decreases
microdimples act as oil reservoirs. The lubricant that is held back
immensely due to low removal rates. Furthermore, laser-
in these reservoirs can be considered as a secondary lubrication
structured surfaces need refinishing in order to remove melt pro-
source. The lubricant is then pulled out of the reservoirs by the
trusions [6]. In many fields, the high equipment costs constitute a
relative movement between the friction partners and permeates
serious obstacle for the use of this technology. Additional meth-
into the surrounding surface areas. This effect also improves the
ods, which would generally be usable for creating microdimples,
dry running performance of surfaces. The second effect is that
are. e.g., microspark erosion [9–11], microforming [12–14], or
microdimples can act as microbearings. The classic theory of
hydrodynamic lubrication indicates that smooth parallel sliding
surfaces do not have any contribution in load carrying. In this
context microdimples raise the load carrying capacity of the lubri-
cation film [4]. The hydrodynamic pressure Pa is built up across a
geometrically defined dimple as shown in (Fig. 1(a)).
There are two fluidic effects having impact on the pressure dis-
tribution across one dimple. When the friction partners slide
against each other, the cross section of the lubrication gap
increases abruptly in the entry zone (zone 1). This leads to a nega-
tive lubricant pressure and, consequently, to cavitation. In zone 2
the cross-section area decreases once again so that the lubricant is
compressed in the convergent lubrication gap. This leads to a
pressure build up and, consequently, to a hydrodynamic floating
of the sliding friction partner. If the microdimples are distributed

1
Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Manufacturing Engineering Division of ASME for publication
in the JOURNAL OF MICRO AND NANO-MANUFACTURING. Manuscript received October 4,
2012; final manuscript received January 22, 2013; published online March 25, 2013. Fig. 1 Principle of hydrodynamic pressure build up by geo-
Assoc. Editor: Stefan Dimov. metrically defined microdimples

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 electrochemical machining [15,16]. For a large-scale application
on cylinder liners, the necessary refinishing process and the diffi-
culty of integrating this methods into existing process chains are
obstacles for an industrial application. Here, cutting processes
have proven to be very productive. Nevertheless, due to the small
dimple dimensions size effects have to be considered with regard
to the material properties [17].
Within the work presented in this paper geometrically defined
microdimples for cylinder liners are machined by adjusted fly-
cutting kinematics. The characteristic of the applied kinematics is
that the microdimples are machined continuously by one single
engagement of the tool tip. In recent research the fundamentals
to machine microdimples in a high quality (high surface quality
and small burr dimensions) were investigated. In this context
predominantly the relevant chip and lateral burr formation
mechanisms were identified while machining microdimples by
fly-cutting kinematics [18,19]. For the machining of cylindrical
components like cylinder liners and slide bearings, flexible and re-
producible machining strategies are required. With this focus
adapted machining strategies for cylindrical components as well
as the tribological performance of such components are presented
in this paper. Furthermore, a transfer of the research results in an
industrial application is realized by the microstructuring of
industrial manufactured cylinder liners. The experimental investi-
Fig. 2 Axially parallel and orthogonal machining strategies for cylindrical
components
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gation of those machined liners is carried out on a heavy duty
diesel single cylinder test engine, which is presented at the end of
this paper.
Machining Strategies for Cylindrical Components
For the efficient implementation of microdimples in cylindrical
components innovative axially parallel and orthogonal turn-
milling strategies were developed and investigated. The experi-
mental setup on a computer numeric control (CNC) lathe of type
Gildemeister TWIN 32 and the realizable machining operations
are shown in Fig. 2. The rotating milling tool is held by a driven
tool holder and superposed with the surface of the rotating compo-
nent. The single point milling tool with an insert of type
CCGT060201 has a length of l ¼ 80 mm and the tool tip rotates on
a diameter d ¼ 20.3 mm. The cross section geometry of the dimple
is directly given by the geometry of the tool tip. By defined feed
rates and speed ratios microdimples, which do not overlap each
other, can be machined continuously. In this case, the number of
microdimples, which are machined per minute, equals the tool
revolutions per minute. The average dimensions of the microdim-
ples are 1 mm to 2 mm in length, 50 lm to 100 lm in width, and
5 lm to 30 lm in depth. Figure 2 demonstrates the process flexi-
bility with regard to the arrangement of the microdimples.
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 3 Characterizing parameters for the dimple distribution and arrangement
By the application of two different tool holder specifications,
one parallel and one orthogonal to the machine spindle, axially
parallel and orthogonal process strategies are practicable. Thus,
the outer and the inner diameter as well as the face surfaces of
cylindrical components can be machined. By the axially parallel
strategies the outer and inner diameter surfaces are machinable
where the microdimples are aligned in peripheral direction. By
the orthogonal strategies, in contrast, axially aligned microdim-
ples are machinable on the outer diameter surfaces. Furthermore,
the face machining with the radial and tangential alignment of the
microdimples is possible.
Microdimple Arrangement and Distribution
In the following the impact of the machining strategy and the
relevant machining parameters on the dimple distribution and
arrangement are analyzed. In this context, the investigations are
focused on the inner diameter machining. In Fig. 3 the relevant
parameters for the dimple arrangement are visualized. The rele-
vant process parameters to control the microdimple arrangement
are the feed fax in the axial direction of the component and the rev-
olution ratio kn between milling tool and component. By the axial
feed fax the axial distance sax between two dimples is directly con-
trolled. The tangential distance stan between two microdimples in
peripheral component direction can be calculated by the compo-
nents perimeter Ucomponent and the tangential indexing ttan accord-
ing to Eq. (1).
Ucomponent
stan ¼ (1)
ttan
The tangential indexing is calculated by Eq. (2):
360 deg
ttan ¼ (2)
k simple way. In Fig. 4 the development of the tangential indexing
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By the axial and the tangential dimple distance the number of
microdimples on a quadrangular area DMT, with the axial edge
length x and the tangential edge length y, can be calculated
according to Eq. (3).
x ky
DMT ¼  (3)
fax U
Not only the distance between two dimples but also their
arrangement to each other is relevant for the tribological behav-
ior. Within this work the parallel offset utan was defined to
describe the offset of two microdimples lying upon another in
axial component direction (see Fig. 3 right). The diameter of the
component and the milling tool do not have any impact on the
parallel offset. The process parameter used to control the parallel
offset is the revolution ratio kn. The interrelationship between
the revolution ratio and the resulting microdimple arrangement
is visualized in Fig. 4, which shows the calculated parallel off-
sets and topography plots of the machined surfaces. The diagram
on the left indicates the development of the parallel offset over a
revolution ratio kn ¼ 10 to 16. In the diagram on the right the
revolution ratio is extracted for kn ¼ 10 to 11.5. With an integer
revolution ratio no offset (utan ¼ 0 deg) of the microdimples
results, which leads to their arrangement exactly aligned. At a
half-integral revolution ratio the microdimples are arranged with
a parallel offset of exactly half of their tangential distance (50%
offset)
Between an integer and a half-integral revolution ratio the
microdimples exhibit an offset to the left (negative prefix),
whereas between a half-integral and an integer revolution ratio the
microdimples exhibit an offset to the right (positive prefix). By
the knowledge of these interrelations a defined offset in axial
direction of the component can be calculated and realized in a
MARCH 2013, Vol. 1 / 011003-3
 Fig. 4 Interrelationship between the revolution ratio and the resulting microdim-
ple arrangement
ttan is plotted against the revolution ratio as well. The tangential
indexing decreases over the revolution ratio on a diminishing
scale due to the fact that the number of microdimples over the
perimeter increases with the revolution ratio.
Microdimple Geometry and Process Limits
By the process strategy and the process parameters the micro-
dimple geometry can be controlled to a certain extent as well.
Depending on whether the microdimples are machined by up- or
downmilling the resulting trajectory of the engaging tool tip is
variable distorted. In upmilling the microdimples are stretched,
whereas in downmilling they are compressed. For the characteri-
zation of this distortion the process characteristic stretching ratio
Gs according to Eq. (4) and compression ratio Gc according to
Eq. (5) were defined.
ld;ideal
Gs ¼ (4)
ld;stretched
ld;ideal
Gc ¼ (5)
ld;compressed
Here, ld,ideal is the length of the dimple whose trajectory is not dis-
torted (no component rotation) and ld,stretched/compressed is the
length of the dimple machined with a distorted trajectory. In the
diagram in Fig. 5 the calculated stretching ratio (blue line) and
the calculated compression ratio (red line) are plotted against the
revolution ratio for up- and downmilling. Furthermore, the meas-
ured values gained from the experiments and photomicrographs of
the machined dimples are contrasted.
The calculated data are in correlation with the measured
ones. It becomes evident that in upmilling the tool engagement
zone is stretched, whereas in downmilling it is compressed. So,
the stretching and compression ratio are symmetric to G ¼ 1 (no
stretching/compression). With increasing revolution ratio the
stretching/compression ratio converges to G ¼ 1. Consequently,
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the described effect becomes more and more insignificant. In the
direction of very small revolution ratios the compression ratio Gc
takes values with a negative prefix below a given point. Since the
revolution ratio kv comprises the diameter of the component and
the milling tool, the speed ratio between component and milling
tool has to be taken into account. When the speed ratio is one, the
compression ratio is zero. Then the cutting edge merely rolls of
the components surface and deforms it. This is demonstrated by
the triangular imprint of the cutting edge on the photomicrograph
in Fig. 6, middle.
Regarding the tool radius (rtool ¼ 10.15 mm) and the component
radius (rcomponent ¼ 41 mm) this happens at a rotation ratio of
kn ¼ 4. With a further decrease of the rotation ratio the cutting
direction reverses (negative cutting direction), where the cutting
edge then merely plows through the material with its flank face in
front (Fig. 6, right). Compared to the same speed ratio in positive
cutting direction the machined dimples exhibit high burr forma-
tion (Fig. 6, right). Recapitulatory, the machining at speed ratios
1 should be avoided due to the high tool tip stresses and the
poor dimple quality.
As a further process limitation the effective clearance angle aeff
has to be considered during the process design. Especially the
upmilling with low speed ratios can result in very small effective
clearance angles aeff and, consequently, in a critical contact
between the tool flank face and the component. During the investi-
gations the revolution ratio was decreased to a minimum of
kn ¼ 10 applying a tool with a clearance angle of a ¼ 7 deg. Here,
the effective clearance angle was determined to aeff ¼ 4 deg so
that no critical contact conditions were observed.
Tribological Performance of Machined Microdimples
Within the investigations the tribological performance of the
machined surfaces with geometrically defined microdimples was
evaluated by a ring-on-disk setup on a Wazau TRM5000 tribome-
ter (Fig. 7).
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 5 Impact of the milling strategy and the revolution ratio on the stretching and
compression ratio

Fig. 6 Process limits in down milling

Here, lapped and microdimpled rings made of aluminum

bronze were paired with tempered and lapped steel disks under
splash lubrication. The test mode was a chute from 0 m/s to10 m/s Fig. 7 Ring-on-disk tribometer setup evaluate the tribological
so that the Stribek curve could be plotted continuously for this performance of machined microdimples

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 Fig. 8 Tribological performance of microdimpled surfaces

speed range. To evaluate the friction coefficient the normal and

friction force were measured by a torque dynamometer the ring
was fixed on.
In Fig. 8 the Stribek curves of dimpled and nondimpled rings
are faced for the loads 325 N (0.16 MPa) and 650 N (0.32 MPa).
Independently from the load the friction coefficient can be
decreased clearly by microdimples at low sliding speeds in the
mixed friction area. This indicates the potential for low-speed or
reciprocating tribosystems like slide bearings or cylinder liners.
At high relative speeds energetically unfavorable turbulences and
shear effects in the lubrication gap are getting more and more
dominant; therefore, the friction coefficient increases in the hydro-
dynamic range.
In the following, the control parameters for the friction behav-
ior at low sliding speeds (mixed friction area) are discussed. Here,
the dimple density, the dimple depth, and the dimple flank angle
were identified as the relevant control parameters for the friction
behavior under planar contact conditions. In Fig. 9 the impact of
each control parameter on the friction coefficient is presented by
the Stribeck curves plotted against the sliding speed v for varying
parameter settings. Diagram 1 indicates that the friction coeffi-
cient decreases nearly parallel along the speed range if the number
of dimples is increased. This effect is led back to the number of
pressure peaks, which increase as well and improve the load car-
rying capacity of the tribosystem. Furthermore, there is a clear
impact of the dimple depth ap (Fig. 9, diagram 2). The friction Fig. 9 Impact of the microdimple density, the depth and the
coefficient increases parallel with the dimple depth. When the flank angle on the friction coefficient
dimple depth is higher than ap,max > 30 lm the friction coefficients
even exceed the coefficient of the surfaces without dimples. The
reason for this behavior is that large dimples do not support the
load carrying capacity in a way like small dimples do. This results Experimental Analysis of Microstructured
in a higher surface contact area in the mixed friction area.
A geometric parameter, which can be controlled by cutting in a Cylinder Liners
simple way, is the cross-section geometry of the dimple. In dia- In order to transfer the presented research results in an indus-
gram 3 (Fig. 9) the Stribeck curves of microdimples with flank trial application, an experimental analysis of microstructured
angles between j ¼ 15 deg to 55 deg are contrasted. In this case, cylinder liners was conducted. Two different types of structured
the friction coefficient decreases when the sliding direction is ori- cylinder liners were analyzed for the purpose of evaluating the
ented towards the slightly inclined dimple flank. When the sliding influence of the pattern position along the cylinder surface. Either
direction is oriented towards the steep flank the friction coefficient the hydrodynamic area or the interstice area was structured
may even increase and exceed that of the surface that is not struc- (Fig. 10). For comparing the experimental results of structured lin-
tured. That means the flatter the convergent lubrication gap ers with nonstrucutured liners, two cylinder liners with a honed
between the dimple flank and the friction partner the higher the (standard) and a honed (fine) surface were also investigated within
hydrodynamic pressure built up. this experimental analysis.

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 Fig. 10 Experimental preparation of cylinder liners

Fig. 11 Development of the friction mean effective pressure (FMEP)

The experimental analysis of microstructured and nonstructured
cylinder liners was carried out on a heavy duty diesel single cylin-
der research engine at the Institute of Technical Combustion of
the Leibniz University of Hanover. The determination of the fric-
tion reduce was carried out with the “indication method” where
the FMEP is determined by the difference of indicated mean
effective pressure and the break mean effective pressure. Figure
11 shows the friction effects during a 7 h test cycle of a honed
(standard), a honed (fine) and of two microstructured cylinder lin-
ers. One of those cylinder liners is equipped with microdimples at
the interstice area (top dead center). The other is microstructured
at the hydrodynamic area. Due to the reduced surface roughness,
the honed (fine) cylinder liner achieves, compared to the honed
(standard) liner, less friction losses in most of the engine operating
points (up to –11%). The honed (fine) liner with additional micro-
dimples along the interstice area shows the least friction losses
(up to –19%) in consequence of a higher oil capture capability.
The cylinder liner with the microstructured hydrodynamic area
generates increased friction losses at engine speeds above
1600 rpm. This behavior can be explained by an increased stress

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 within the oil film resulting from a higher piston relative velocity
and a thicker oil film at the hydrodynamic area compared to the
interstice area.
Conclusion
This paper presents new process strategies to machine micro-
dimples for friction reduction. By these strategies the inner and
outer diameter surfaces as well as the face surfaces of cylindrical
components are machinable in an efficient way. Furthermore, the
investigations indicate that the density, the arrangement, and the
geometry of the microdimples can be directly set by the process
strategy and the process input parameters. In ring-on-disk tribom-
eter experiments the potential of the machined microdimples par-
ticularly emerge for low sliding speeds in the mixed friction area.
Here high dimple densities, small dimple depths, and small dim-
ple flank angles prove to be favorable for friction reduction. The
transfer of the research results in an industrial application is real-
ized by the machining of industrial manufactured cylinder liners
as well as the accomplishment of motor-driven experiments. The
experiments display a high potential regarding the friction reduc-
tion of combustion engines due to machined microdimples.
Acknowledgment
The presented investigations were undertaken with support of
the German Research Foundation within “Microstructuring of
thermomechanically highly stressed surfaces” (DFG Research
Group 576).
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