Integrative Graduate
Education and
Research Traineeship

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Interactive Design and Development of Textured Surfaces

Interactive Design and Development of Textured Surfaces

Projects:

On A Virtual Tribology System: Future Engineers and...

Institution:

Northwestern University

Primary Strategic Goal:

Discovery: Foster research that will advance the frontiers of knowledge, emphasizing areas of greatest opportunity and potential benefit and establishing the Nation as a global leader in fundamental transformational science and engineering.

Secondary Strategic Goal:

Research Infrastructure: Build the Nation's research capability through critical investments in advanced instrumentation, facilities, cyber infrastructure, and experimental tools.

Achievement/Results

We have developed a method for machining micro-surface texture onto a bearing surface in addition to discovering the texture parameters that optimize the bearing’s tribological performance. The newly developed method of surface texturing offers vast improvements to existing techniques and is easily adaptable from laboratory to industrial application. The particular texture design is critical to improving the performance of the bearing. We have identified the parameters that are most significant and have demonstrated that a well-designed surface texture is able to significantly lower the bearing’s friction in operation.

Address Goals

It addresses the challenge of multi-scale complex surface science and engineering: Exploration, design, machining, and application of engineered surfaces.