Influence of varying distribution distance and angle on fatigue wear resistance of 40Cr alloy steel with laser bionic texture

Brake camshaft with 40Cr alloy steel plays a more and more important role in the brake system and its fatigue wear resistance (FWR) directly related to the safety of the trailer. Based on the bionic principle and laser surface texturing technology, this paper proposes a new laser bionic texture technology to enhance the fatigue wear resistance of 40Cr alloy steel manufactured with bionic texture in varying distribution distance and angle, forming the bionic anti-wear surface with “soft” - “hard” and “rigid” - “soft” phase. Then the bionic texture zone was observed to determine the microstructure, alteration of phase and micro-hardness. Wear test was applied to the untreated and bionic texture samples under the laboratorial conditions. Results indicated that all bionic texture samples demonstrated the beneficial effect on the fatigue behavior improvement owing to phase transformation and grain reinforcement. Furthermore, the FWR of 40Cr alloy steel reinforced with bionic texture distribution distance of 2 mm and angle of 45° was more effective than other samples. The wear enhancement mechanism of the bionic texture sample was discussed.