Bio-inspired wearable characteristic surface: Wear behavior of cast iron with biomimetic units processed by laser

Stimulated by the cuticles of soil animals, an attempt to improve the wear resistance of compact graphite cast iron (CGI) with biomimetic units on the surface was made by using a biomimetic coupled laser remelting (BCLR) process. The microstructure and microhardness of biomimetic units were examined. The wear behaviors of biomimetic specimens as functions of laser input energy and biomimetic unit shape were investigated under dry sliding condition, respectively. The results indicated that the biomimetic specimens had better wear resistance than the untreated specimens. The wear resistance of the biomimetic specimens increases with the increase of laser input energy due to the increase of the depth and the width of biomimetic units as well as the increase of the microhardness. The specimen with grid biomimetic units had the best resistance, the stria took the second place and the convex showed the worst. The application of laser remelting provided desirable microstructural changes in biomimetic units, which generated the intensified particles effect for improving the wear resistance. The adhesive wear was the dominative wear mechanism for the biomimetic specimens.