Thermal fatigue behavior of gray cast iron with striated biomimetic non-smooth surface

In order to enhance thermal fatigue resistance of brake drum materials, gray cast iron samples with biomimetic non-smooth surface were processed by laser to imitate the alternately soft and hard structure of shell nacreous layer. The key feature of this biomimetic non-smooth surface is that some parallel striations with various spacing distribute on the smooth surface of sample. With self-controlled thermal fatigue test method, the thermal fatigue behaviors of smooth and non-smooth samples were investigated and compared. The results indicated that biomimetic non-smooth surface had a beneficial effect on improving thermal fatigue resistance of samples, and the resistance of non-smooth sample which has smaller spacing of striations is the best in the experiment. Function of non-smooth unit such as the resistance to initiation and propagation of thermal crack is the main reason for improved thermal fatigue property of gray cast iron.