Meshing frictional characteristics of spur gears under dry friction and heavy loads: Effects of the preset pitting-like micro-textures array

Despite good approval for excellent friction regulation, surface texturing seems to be a penalty area for gears mostly because of the traditional cognition of surface (micro-)pitting and structural similarity. Surface micro-textures were applied to the pinion flank to regulate the time-varying meshing stiffness and enhance the meshing characteristics. Results showed the stress regulation and smoothing capability of micro-textures in meshing process, the time-varying meshing stiffness increases by 4.75% and the frictional stability increased by 52%. Experiment results approve that the flank micro-textures can control friction and reduce torque by 26.2%. This study is significant for the systemic design of the dynamic performance and frictional meshing, especially for the gear engagement reliability in space without film lubrication.