Journal of
Tribology Technology Review
State of the Art in Laser Surface
Texturing
Izhak Etsion
e-mail: etsion@tx.technion.ac.il
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technion,
Haifa 32000, Israel
Surface texturing has emerged in the last decade as a viable op-
tion of surface engineering resulting in significant improvement in
load capacity, wear resistance, friction coefficient etc. of tribo-
logical mechanical components. Various techniques can be em-
ployed for surface texturing but Laser Surface Texturing (LST) is
probably the most advanced so far. LST produces a very large
number of micro-dimples on the surface and each of these micro-
dimples can serve either as a micro-hydrodynamic bearing in
cases of full or mixed lubrication, a micro-reservoir for lubricant
in cases of starved lubrication conditions, or a micro-trap for
wear debris in either lubricated or dry sliding. The present paper
reviews the current effort being made world wide on surface tex-
turing in general and on laser surface texturing in particular. It
presents the state of the art in LST and the potential of this tech-
nology in various lubricated applications like mechanical seals,
piston rings and thrust bearings. The paper also describes some
fundamental on going research around the world with LST.
关DOI: 10.1115/1.1828070兴
Introduction
Surface texturing as a means for enhancing tribological proper-
ties of mechanical components is well known for many years.
Perhaps the most familiar and earliest commercial application of
surface texturing is that of cylinder liner honing 关1,2兴. Today sur-
faces of modern magnetic storage devices are commonly textured
关3,4兴 and surface texturing is also considered as a means for over-
coming adhesion and stiction in MEMS devices 关5兴. Fundamental
research work on various forms and shapes of surface texturing
for tribological applications is carried out by several research
groups worldwide and various texturing techniques are employed
in these studies including machining, ion beam texturing, etching
techniques and laser texturing. Interestingly almost all these fun-
damental works are experimental in nature and most of them are
motivated by the idea that the surface texturing provides micro-
reservoirs to enhance lubricant retention or micro-traps to capture
wear debris. Usually, optimization of the texturing dimensions is
done by a trial and error approach.
Hamilton et al. presented in 1966 关6兴 surface texturing in the
form of micro-asperities that act as micro-hydrodynamic bearings.
Manuscript received December 18, 2003; revision received August 11, 2004. Re-
view conducted by: L. S. Stephens.
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This idea was promoted mainly for parallel sliding, as is the case
in mechanical seals 关7,8兴. An etching technique was used for the
texturing, and both theoretical and experimental work was per-
formed in an attempt to optimize the texturing dimensions. Thirty
years later, in 1996, Etsion and Burstein 关9兴 presented a model for
mechanical seals with regular micro-surface structure, showing a
substantial improvement in seal performance when evenly distrib-
uted hemispherical micro-dimples are present on one of the mat-
ing seal faces. The work in 关9兴 was followed by an experimental
study 关10兴 in which laser-textured seal rings were tested in oil
showing that the spherical dimple shape can be optimized and that
an optimum dimple depth over dimple diameter ratio exists
that maximizes the film stiffness and the PV factor at seizure
inception.
As can be seen from the discussion above various forms of
surface texturing can be used for enhancing tribological perfor-
mance. However, of all the practical micro-surface patterning
methods it seems that laser surface texturing 共LST兲 offers the
most promising concept. This is because the laser is extremely fast
and allows short processing times, it is clean to the environment
and provides excellent control of the shape and size of the micro-
dimples, which allows realization of optimum designs. By con-
trolling energy density, the laser can safely process hardened
steels, ceramics, and polymers as well as crystalline structures.
Indeed, LST is starting to gain more and more attention in the
Tribology community as is evident from the growing number of
publications on this subject.
The purpose of this paper is to review various forms of surface
texturing in general and the laser surface texturing in particular.
Extensive experience that has been accumulated since 1996 with
LST, mainly in mechanical seals, will be described as well as the
on going research and development work for other applications
like piston rings and thrust bearings.
Surface Texturing in Tribology
Various forms and techniques of surface texturing were devel-
oped over the years for enhancing Tribological performance. The
vibrorolling method was developed by Schneider in 1984 关11兴, it
consists of producing shallow grooves by plastic deformation us-
ing a hard indenter on metallic parts. An extensive work has been
done on vibrorolling in Eastern Europe 关12兴 that somehow went
unnoticed in the western world. At about the same time Suh and
co-workers 关13兴 in the U.S. presented the idea of modulated sur-
face for removing oxide wear debris from the interface of electri-
cal contacts. They initially used an etching technique which was
later replaced by abrasive machining to form grooves 关14 –17兴
that they termed undulated surfaces. Like in 关13兴 the function of
the undulations is to act as traps for wear debris thereby reducing
the ploughing and deformation components of friction and wear.
Reactive ion etching 共RIE兲 was employed by a group lead by
Kato in Japan 关18 –20兴 to study the effect of surface texturing, in
the form of micro-dimples, on parallel sliding faces of SiC in
water. Other techniques include Abrasive jet machining 关21兴,
Transactions of the ASME
 Table 1 Various techniques utilized for surface texturing other than LST
Technique Institute
Vibrorolling Institute of Mechanical
Engineering Problems,
Petersburg, Russia
Undulated surfaces MIT, Cambridge, USA
Reactive ion etching 共RIE兲 Tohoku University, Sendai,
Japan
Abrasive jet machining and FCRA and AIST, Nagoya,
excimer laser Japan
LIGA University of Kentucky,
Lexington, USA
Lithography and anisotropic Uppsala University, Uppsala,
etching Sweden
LIGA 关22兴, and lithography and anisotropic etching 关23兴. Table 1
summarizes these various techniques and shows the global spread
of interest in surface texturing.
Most of the work described above is experimental, using vari-
ous types of pin on disk and ring on ring test machines. This is
probably due to the fact that the involved phenomena are very
complex, and only in limited cases can be described analytically.
However, in spite of the lack of extensive theoretical modeling
and optimization of the texturing dimensions, remarkable im-
provement in terms of friction and wear reduction was demon-
strated in these experiments with various texturing forms.
Laser Surface Texturing „LST…
Laser surface texturing has been used for over 10 years now in
the magnetic storage industry 关3,4兴 mainly to prevent stiction dur-
ing start up. This issue will not be dealt with in the present review.
Instead, the potential of LST in enhancing Tribological perfor-
mance during continuous operation will be described.
A large amount of work on laser surface texturing was done in
Germany starting some 10 years ago. Unfortunately, most of it is
published in the German language and hence, is not even refer-
enced in English archive journals. A few exceptions are papers
coming from the group lead by Geiger at the University of
Erlangen-Nuremberg e.g. 关24,25兴. This group uses an eximer laser
with a mask projection technique, a mask is illuminated with the
laser beam and its geometrical information is projected onto the
textured surface. This method was applied to a punch, used in a
backward cup extrusion process for the production of rivets, and
showed a substantial increase of up to 169% in cold forging tool
life. An interesting discussion regarding the combination and or-
der of hard coating and laser texturing is included with the con-
clusion that for the specific case in hand coating prior to texturing
was preferable. Another German paper that was translated to En-
glish in 2002 关26兴 provides a good review of LST work done in
Germany including applications such as mechanical seals and cyl-
inder liners for internal combustion engines. This paper also de-
scribes different laser systems used for surface texturing but con-
centrates on CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers.
A CO2 laser was used at Tohoku University, Japan 关27兴 to tex-
ture SiC surfaces for studying the effect of LST on the transition
from hydrodynamic to mixed lubrication regime. Experiments
were carried out with a disk and a cylinder configuration loaded
axially under water lubrication. Surface texture in the form of
micro-pores with a diameter of 150 ␮m and a depth of about 8 –10
␮m was tested and compared with untextured specimens. It was
found that the critical load for the transition from hydrodynamic
to mixed lubrication in the case of the textured specimens was
20% larger than that for the untextured faces.
An extensive research work on laser surface texturing is being
done at the Institute of Applied Physics of the University of Bern
in Switzerland utilizing Q-switched Nd:YAG but mostly femto-
Journal of Tribology
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References Comments
关11,12兴 Various mechanical
components
关13–17兴 Wear particle trapping
sites
关18 –20兴 Laboratory tests and limited
theoretical modeling
关21兴 Pin on disk tests
关22兴 Laboratory tests on thrust
rings. Limited
theoretical modeling
关23兴 Reciprocating test rig
second lasers 关28 –32兴. This work is mainly aimed at studying the
texturing process itself however, limited basic Tribological tests
are also performed in collaboration with researchers at other in-
stitutions like CSEM in Neuchatel, Switzerland and elsewhere. In
关29兴 for example, a ball-on-disk test is described where a small
fixed amount of lubricant is provided and the evolution of friction
coefficient with sliding distance is monitored. The lifetime of a
sample was defined as the distance at which friction starts to in-
crease rapidly. It was found that the lifetime of LST sample disks
could be eight times longer than that of untextured samples.
A fundamental research work on LST is carried out at Argonne
National Laboratory in the USA. The effect of LST on the transi-
tion from boundary to hydrodynamic lubrication regime was ex-
perimentally investigated 关33兴 by measuring friction and
electrical-contact resistance in a pin-on-disk unidirectional sliding
conformal contact. LST was observed to expand the range of the
hydrodynamic lubrication regime in terms of load and sliding
speed. Furthermore, LST was observed to reduce the friction co-
efficient substantially under similar operating conditions when
compared with untextured surfaces.
As with the nonlaser texturing techniques of the previous sec-
tion, the entire laser texturing works described above are experi-
mental when it comes to investigation of the tribological aspects
of LST. A trial and error approach is adopted whenever optimiza-
tion of the texturing dimensions is attempted. This is probably the
reason for the large variations in ‘‘optimum’’ dimensions obtained
by different groups. The trial and error approach may be the only
viable one in cases like dry sliding or starved lubrication where
basic theoretical modeling does not exist. In these cases the LST
micro-dimples usually function as micro-traps for wear particles
or micro-reservoirs for lubricant retention. However, in other
cases, where the micro-dimples function as micro-hydrodynamic
bearings, a thorough theoretical investigation can be performed to
Fig. 1 LST regular micro-surface structure in the form of
micro-dimples
JANUARY 2005, Vol. 127 Õ 249

Fig. 2 Seal model and mode of operation
optimize the LST parameters for best tribological performance,
depending on the application at hand. This idea has motivated a
very extensive research and development program at Technion-
Israel Institute of Technology, which resulted in several models
for optimizing LST in various applications. The current achieve-
ments of this activity are described in the following sections.
LST in Mechanical Seals
The earlier simple modeling 关9兴 and experiments 关10兴 of LST in
mechanical seals were followed by more in-depth theoretical and
experimental studies 关34兴. The three dimensions that characterize
the LST 共see Fig. 1兲 are the dimples diameter, depth, and area
density. The mechanical seal model treated in 关34兴 is shown in
Fig. 2. It was found that the actual shape of the micro-dimple does
not play a significant role and taht the most significant parameter
for optimum load capacity is the ratio of the dimple depth over
diameter. The modeling is based on solving the Reynolds equation
for the hydrodynamic pressure distribution and finding the aver-
age pressure in the sealing dam for various operating conditions.
Fig. 3 Comparison of the friction torque versus face loading
for textured and nontextured SiCÕ SiC seals in water †35‡
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Fig. 4 Schematic of a partial laser surface textured mechani-
cal seal
A high stiffness of the fluid film below a clearance of 1 ␮m and a
very good agreement between theory and experiment was shown
in 关34兴. Further testing of actual seals in water 关35兴 showed dra-
matic reduction of up to 65% in friction torque 共see Fig. 3兲 and
face temperature. Similar results of lower friction and face tem-
perature with laser textured seal face were found in East China
University of Science and Technology and are reported in 关36兴
where textured SiC rings were tested against carbon rings in oil.
Another test of LST mechanical seal in oil that was performed at
the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology in Germany is
briefly reported in 关26兴 indicating 40% reduction in friction torque
and nearly doubling of the LST seal service life.
As shown in Fig. 3 the reduction in friction torque is gradually
diminishing at higher sealed pressures, corresponding to higher
unit loads. To overcome the poor performance at high pressures a
special treatment was developed that enhances hydrostatic effects
in high-pressure seals 关37兴. This treatment consists of applying
higher density LST over a portion of the sealing dam 共see Fig. 4兲
adjacent to the high-pressure side and leaving the remaining por-
tion nontextured. The textured portion provides an equivalent
larger gap so that the end result is a converging seal gap in the
direction of pressure drop, which produces hydrostatic effect. Fig-
ure 5 shows results that were obtained with very simple unbal-
Fig. 5 Friction torque versus sealed pressure for nontextured
and partial textured seals †37‡
Transactions of the ASME
 anced seals, rated by the manufacturer at a maximum operating
pressure of 12 bars. Indeed the test with the non-textured seals had
to be terminated at 12 bars due to a too high friction torque read-
ing of 5 N m that indicated the inception of severe face contact.
The corresponding friction torque of the textured seal at the 12 bar
is only 0.16 N m, hence, a reduction in friction of more than 90%.
The textured seals could be easily operated up to the 23 bar limit
of the test rig and at this relatively high pressure the friction
torque was only 0.5 N m, a value that could be obtained with the
nontextured seals only below 11 bar. Hence, the high pressure
sealing capability of the textured seals is substantially greater than
that of the standard nontextured ones.
Another study 关38兴, in collaboration with Western Michigan
University, on both full and partial LST seals demonstrated the
potential positive effect of micro-surface texturing on reducing Fig. 6 Correlation between experimental and theoretical re-
breakaway torque and blister formation in carbon–graphite me- sults of friction time variation at 1000 rpm under full lubrication
chanical seal faces. condition †42‡
The LST advantages are not limited to liquid lubrication only,
and dry gas seals can benefit from LST as well 关39兴. The main
difference is the optimum dimple depth over diameter ratio, which
in gas application is much smaller than in liquid application. The
benefit of LST in a dry gas seal application was demonstrated in
关40兴 by tests at 12,000 rpm with increasing unit loads to compare
the performance of LST seal with that of a nontextured baseline
seal. A substantial reduction in friction torque and face tempera-
ture was obtained with the LST seal as well as more stable opera-
tion compared to the nontextured seal.
An interesting finding is reported in 关26兴 regarding the benefit
of texturing only one or both of the seal mating faces. As shown in
Fig. 4 of that paper the texturing of just one surface reduced the
friction by 40% compared to the standard nontextured case. On
the other hand texturing of both mating surfaces increased the
friction by 100% compared to the standard nontextured case.
Fig. 7 Effect of oil starvation on the average friction force at
Case Study: LST Technology Tested at a Petrochemical Re- 900 rpm for various dimple depths, h p †42‡
finery. Gadiv Petrochemical Industries Ltd., one of Israel’s
largest petrochemical companies, started a field test in 1998 in
order to improve the reliability of the mechanical seals at its pet-
rochemical refinery plant. Gadiv evaluated the benefits of LST by
comparing the performance of identical pumps that pumped liquid
hydrocarbons—one was fitted with an LST treated seal, and the
other with a standard nontextured seal. The details of the seals,
pump, fluid, and operating conditions are:

Seal 74 BW 2002539, Borg-Warner Fig. 8 Typical pressure distribution in three slider bearing
Seal materials Tungsten carbide against carbon configurations of: 1-plane slider, 2-stepped slider, 3-surface
enriched with silicon textured parallel slider
Seal diameter 55 mm at shaft
Pump 128-3507A, Byron-Jackson
Fluid pumped C9–C10 hydrocarbons
Vapor pressure 7.25 bar
Viscosity 0.175 cp
Operating temp. 350°C
Pressure at the seal 4 –5 bar.

The LST treated seal operated for more than 10 000 h over a 38
month period before it was replaced because of an O-ring failure.
Over the same time, the untreated seal had to be replaced four
times. Gadiv found the following:
1. Failure of the seal was caused by the melting of the O-ring
of the stationary tungsten seal ring as a result of exposure to high
temperature;
2. The LST tungsten carbide ring was still in perfect and op-
erational condition. The flatness at the contact surface of the ring
was within 1 ␮m and the flatness outside the contact surface was
0.25 ␮m;
3. The carbon ring, with a waviness of 3– 4 ␮m, could be re-
assembled after re-polishing/lapping; Fig. 9 A comparison of friction coefficient of partial bidirec-
4. The wear rate of the tungsten carbide ring was just 1 ␮m for tional and unidirectional LST bearings, and a baseline untex-
10 000 h of operation. LST increased the life of the seal threefold. tured bearing at 1500 rpm †46‡

Journal of Tribology JANUARY 2005, Vol. 127 Õ 251

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 Table 2 World distribution of activity in LST
Country Institutions
Germany University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
IFAS/IPT Aachen
University of Hannover, and Gehring
Israel Technion, and Surface
Technologies Ltd. 共SurTech兲
Japan Tohoku University
China East China University, Shanghai
Switzerland University of Bern 共UB兲
and CSEM
USA Argonne National Laboratory
Western Michigan University
Stein Seal Co.
Russia General Physics Institute Moscow
France Mediterranean University, Marseille
In addition, the average savings gained from using the LST-
treated seal were in the region of US $900 per year.
LST in Other Lubricated Applications
The potential benefits of applying LST to piston rings has been
demonstrated theoretically 关41兴 and experimentally in laboratory
tests 关42兴. Optimum texturing parameters for minimum friction
force were found in 关41兴 for full LST rings showing a potential
reduction of about 30% compared to nontextured rings under full
lubrication conditions. Good agreement was found with experi-
mental results in 关42兴 共see Fig. 6兲. In addition it was found that
optimum LST is beneficial under starvation as well, where the
dimples serve as micro-reservoirs for lubricant. Figure 7 presents
experimental results 关42兴 with full LST applied to specimens
simulating piston rings, where the conditions were varied from
full to starved lubrication by controlling the lubricant flow rate to
the sliding contact. This was done by drip lubrication while vary-
ing the time between successive drops. The results show the ben-
efits of LST in reducing friction in both full 共30 s between suc-
cessive drops兲 and starved lubrication conditions 共260 s between
successive drops兲.
The use of laser texturing in the form of micro-grooves on
cylinder liners of internal combustion engines was presented at
the 14th International Colloquium Tribology in Esslingen 共see
关43兴 for example兲 showing lower fuel consumption and wear. This
technique called ‘‘laser honing’’ is now commercially available
from the Gehring Company in Germany 关44兴.
Analysis of LST in hydrodynamic thrust bearings of the sim-
plest form of parallel sliding disks 关45兴 has shown the potential of
LST in this application. These simple bearings are usually found
in magnetic drive seal-less pumps were the process fluid serves as
the lubricant for the pump bearings. It was found that partial LST
can improve substantially the load carrying capacity of these
simple bearings and make them comparable to more sophisticated
tapered or stepped sliders. The concept of generating load carry-
ing capacity with partial LST is demonstrated in Fig. 8. The tex-
tured portion of the slider provides an effective larger clearance
than the non-textured portion and hence, the slider is acting as a
stepped slider. Test results in water at 1500 and 3000 rpm 关46兴
showed that the textured bearing operated with a clearance that is
about 3 times larger and friction that is about 3 times smaller 共see
Fig. 9兲 than the case of the nontextured bearing throughout the
range of tested loads.
Laser texturing is also used extensively in metal forming as a
mean for a secondary hydrodynamic lubrication mechanism
which is called micro-pool or micro-plastic hydrodynamic lubri-
cation 关47兴. More work in this area can be found in the references
list of 关47兴.
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References Comments
关24,25兴 Review more German Institute
关26兴 Texturing of cylinder liners
关43,44兴
关9,10,34 –35兴, Mechanical seals, piston
关37– 42,45– 46兴, rings and thrust bearings
关48,49,53兴 including modeling
关27兴
关36兴
关28 –32兴
关29,31兴
关33兴 Experimental research work
关38兴 in collaboration with
关40兴 Technion and SurTech
关28,31兴 In collaboration with UB
关30–32兴 In collaboration with UB
LST in Dry Contact Applications
As was demonstrated with the undulated surfaces 关13–17兴 sur-
face texturing can reduce friction and wear by trapping loose wear
particles. The potential benefit of LST in providing micro-traps
for wear debris in dry contacts subjected to fretting has been dem-
onstrated in 关48兴 and 关49兴. The results in 关48兴 showed that the
escape of oxide wear debris into the LST micro-dimples resulted
in up to 84% reduction in the electrical contact resistance of the
textured fretting surfaces compared to the case with nontextured
surfaces. The potential effect of LST on fretting fatigue life was
demonstrated in 关49兴 by conducting a limited number of fretting
fatigue tests. The LST allowed an easier wear debris escape from
the fretted zone into the micro-dimples thus, improved the fretting
fatigue resistance and almost doubled the fretting fatigue life.
Summary
Surface texturing in general and laser surface texturing in par-
ticular has emerged in recent years as a viable means of enhancing
tribological performance. A great deal of fundamental research
work is still going on worldwide, utilizing various texturing tech-
niques, to explore the benefits of surface texturing and to optimize
the texturing forms and dimensions under various operating con-
ditions. Some very recent additional publications on relevant work
can be found in 关50–52兴. Of all the practical micro-surface pat-
terning methods it seems that laser surface texturing 共LST兲 offers
the most promising concept. This is because the laser is extremely
fast, clean to the environment and provides excellent control of
the shape and size of the micro-dimples, which allows realization
of optimum designs. Table 2 presents a list of centers and organi-
zations around the world that are active in LST. As can be seen
LST is starting to gain more and more attention in the Tribology
community as is evident from the growing number of publications
on this subject.
At the same time LST is already successfully applied to cylin-
der liners and to mechanical seals resulting in up to threefold
increase in seal life in pumps operating in the field 关53兴. This
success is attributed to the theoretical modeling of LST under full
fluid film conditions, which gave good agreement with laboratory
tests and permitted optimization of the LST parameters. It is en-
visaged that with the continuing R&D effort many more mechani-
cal components in tribological applications may benefit from LST
in the coming years.
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pp. 351–366.
关3兴 Ranjan, R., Lambeth, D. N., Tromel, M., Goglia, P., and Li, Y., 1991, ‘‘Laser
Transactions of the ASME
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Metal Surfaces at Elevated Temperatures,’’ Tribol. Trans., 32共3兲, pp. 389–385.
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175, pp. 151–158.
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294 –301.
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Seal in Water with RIE Texturing,’’ Tribol. Lett., 14共4兲, pp. 275–280.
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Capacity Map for The Surface Texture Design of SiC Thrust Bearing Sliding
in Water,’’ Tribol. Int., 36共3兲, pp. 189–197.
关21兴 Wakuda, M., Yamauchi, Y., Kanzaki, S., and Yasuda, Y., 2003, ‘‘Effect of
Surface Texturing on Friction Reduction Between Ceramic and Steel Materials
under Lubricated Sliding Contact,’’ Wear, 254, pp. 356 –363.
关22兴 Stephens, L. S., Siripuram, R., Hyden, M., and McCartt, B., 2004, ‘‘Determin-
istic Micro Asperities on Bearings and Seals Using a Modified LIGA Process,’’
J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power, 126共1兲, pp. 147–154.
关23兴 Pettersson, U., and Jacobson, S., 2003, ‘‘Influence of Surface Texture on
Boundary Lubricated Sliding Contacts,’’ Tribol. Int., 36共11兲, pp. 857– 864.
关24兴 Geiger, M., Roth, S., and Becker, W., 1998, ‘‘Influence of Laser-Produced
Microstructures on the Tribological Behavior of Ceramics,’’ Surf. Coat. Tech-
nol., 100-101, pp. 17–22.
关25兴 Geiger, M., Popp, U., and Engel, U., 2002, ‘‘Eximer Laser Micro Texturing of
Cold Forging Tool Surface-Influence on Tool Life,’’ Ann. CIRP, 51, pp. 231–
234.
关26兴 Hoppermann, A., and Kordt, M., 2002, ‘‘Tribological Optimisation Using
Laser-Structured Contact Surfaces,’’ O⫹P ‘‘Oelhydraulik und Pneumatik,’’
46共4兲, Vereinigte Fachverlage Mainz, ISSN 0341-2660.
关27兴 Wang, X., Kato, K., Adachi, K., and Aizawa, K., 2001, ‘‘The Effect of Laser
Texturing of SiC Surface on the Critical Load for the Transition of Water
Lubrication Mode from Hydrodynamic to Mixed,’’ Tribol. Int., 34共10兲, pp.
703–711.
关28兴 Kononenko, T. V., Garnov, S. V., Pimenov, S. M., Konov, V. I., Romano, V.,
Borsos, B., and Weber, H. P., 2000, ‘‘Laser Ablation and Micropatterning of
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Thin TiN Coatings,’’ Appl. Phys. A: Mater. Sci. Process., 71, pp. 627– 631.
关29兴 Dumitru, G., Romano, V., Weber, H. P., Haefke, H., Gerbig, Y., and Pflüger, E.,
2000, ‘‘Laser Microstructuring of Steel Surfaces for Tribological Applica-
tions,’’ Appl. Phys. A: Mater. Sci. Process., 70, pp. 485– 487.
关30兴 Dumitru, G., Romano, V., Weber, H. P., Sentis, M., and Marine, W., 2002,
‘‘Femtosecond Ablation of Ulrahard Materials,’’ Appl. Phys. A: Mater. Sci.
Process., 74, pp. 729–739.
关31兴 Dumitru, G., Romano, V., Weber, H. P., Pimenov, S., Kononenko, T., Hermann,
J., Bruneau, S., Gerbig, Y., and Shupegin, M., 2003, ‘‘Laser Treatment of
Tribological DLC Films,’’ Diamond Relat. Mater., 12, pp. 1034 –1040.
关32兴 Dumitru, G., Romano, V., Weber, H. P., Sentis, M., and Marine, W., 2003,
‘‘Ablation of Carbide Materials with Femtosecond Pulses,’’ Appl. Surf. Sci.,
205, pp. 80– 85.
关33兴 Kovalchenko, A., Ajayi, O., Erdemir, A., Fenske, G., and Etsion, I., 2004,
‘‘The Effect of Laser Texturing of Steel Surfaces and Speed-Load Parameters
on the Transition of Lubrication Regime from Boundary to Hydrodynamic,’’
Tribol. Trans., 47共2兲, pp. 299–307.
关34兴 Etsion, I., Kligerman, Y., and Halperin, G., 1999, ‘‘Analytical and Experimen-
tal Investigation of Laser-Textured Mechanical Seal Faces,’’ Tribol. Trans., 42,
pp. 511–516.
关35兴 Etsion, I., 2000, ‘‘Improving Tribological Performance of Mechanical Seals by
Laser Surface Texturing,’’ Proceedings of the 17th International Pump Users
Symposium, pp. 17–22.
关36兴 Yu, X. Q., He, S., and Cai, R. L., 2002, ‘‘Frictional Characteristics of Me-
chanical Seals with a Laser-Textured Seal Face,’’ J. Mater. Process. Technol.,
129, pp. 463– 466.
关37兴 Etsion, I., and Halperin, G., 2002, ‘‘A Laser Surface Textured Hydrostatic
Mechanical Seal,’’ Tribol. Trans., 45共3兲, pp. 430– 434.
关38兴 Pride, S., Folkert, K., Guichelaar, P., and Etsion, I., 2002, ‘‘Effect of Micro-
Surface Texturing on Breakaway Torque and Blister Formation on Carbon-
Graphite Faces in a Mechanical Seal,’’ Lubr. Eng., 58, pp. 16 –21.
关39兴 Kligerman, Y., and Etsion, I., 2001, ‘‘Analysis of the Hydrodynamic Effects in
a Surface Textured Circumferential Gas Seal,’’ Tribol. Trans., 44共3兲, pp. 472–
478.
关40兴 McNikel, A., and Etsion, I., 2004, ‘‘Near-Contact Laser Surface Textured Dry
Gas Seals,’’ ASME J. Tribol. 126共4兲, pp. 788 –794.
关41兴 Ronen, A., Etsion, I., and Kligerman, Y., 2001, ‘‘Friction-Reducing Surface
Texturing in Reciprocating Automotive Components,’’ Tribol. Trans., 44共3兲,
pp. 359–366.
关42兴 Ryk, G., Kligerman, Y., and Etsion, I., 2002, ‘‘Experimental Investigation of
Laser Surface Texturing for Reciprocating Automotive Components,’’ Tribol.
Trans., 45共4兲, pp. 444 – 449.
关43兴 Golloch, R., Merker, G. P., Kessen, U., and Brinkmann, S., 2004, ‘‘Benefits of
Laser-Structured Cylinder Liners for Internal Combustion Engines,’’ in Pro-
ceedings of the 14th International Colloquium Tribology, January 13–15 Es-
slingen, pp. 321–328.
关44兴 Gehring GmbH & Co. KG, URL http://www. Gehring.de
关45兴 Brizmer, V., Kligerman, Y., and Etsion, I., 2003, ‘‘A Laser Surface Textured
Parallel Thrust Bearing,’’ Tribol. Trans., 46共3兲, pp. 397– 403.
关46兴 Etsion, I., Halperin, G., Brizmer, V., and Kligerman, Y., 2004, ‘‘Experimental
investigation of laser surface textured parallel thrust bearings,’’ Tribol. Lett.,
17共2兲, pp. 295–300.
关47兴 Lo, S. W., and Wilson, W. R. D., 1999, ‘‘A Theoretical Model of Micro-Pool
Lubrication in Metal Forming,’’ J. Tribol., 121共4兲, pp. 731–738.
关48兴 Varenberg, M., Halperin, G., and Etsion, I., 2002, ‘‘Different Aspects of the
Role of Wear Debris in Fretting Wear,’’ Wear, 252, pp. 902–910.
关49兴 Volchok, A., Halperin, G., and Etsion, I., 2002, ‘‘The Effect of Surface Regular
Micro-Topography on Fretting Fatigue Life,’’ Wear, 253, pp. 509–515.
关50兴 Tonder, K., 2004, ‘‘Hydrodynamic Effects of Tailored Inlet Roughness: Ex-
tended Theory,’’ Tribol. Int., 37, pp. 137–142.
关51兴 Siripuram, R. B., and Stephens, L. S., 2004, ‘‘Effect of Deterministic Asperity
Geometry on Hydrodynamic Lubrication,’’ J. Tribol., 126共3兲, pp. 527–534.
关52兴 Dumitru, G., Romano, V., Weber, H. P., Gerbig, Y., Haefke, H., Bruneau, S.,
Hermann, J., and Sentis, M., 2004, ‘‘Femtosecond Laser Ablation of Cemented
Carbides: Properties and Tribological Applications,’’ Appl. Phys. A: Mater.
Sci. Process., 79, pp. 629– 632.
关53兴 Surface Technologies Ltd. URL http://surface-tech.com
JANUARY 2005, Vol. 127 Õ 253