Description
The present work analyzed the influence of an optical fiber laser surface treatment process on the tribological behavior of the ISO 5832-1 austenitic stainless-steel, basing on the wear volume and friction coefficient. Specimen of this biomaterial were treated by alternating the laser frequency, in order to find out a condition that improves its tribological resistance. Ball-cratering micro-abrasive wear tests were carried out with a test ball of AISI 316L stainless-steel, used as counter-body, and an abrasive slurry prepared with abrasive particles of black silicon carbide (SiC) and distilled water. The micro-abrasive wear tests results indicated that: i) the hardness of the ISO 5832-1 austenitic stainless-steel increased as a function of the laser frequency, decreasing, consequently, the wear volume, as predicted by Archard's Law; ii) the friction coefficient did not present a proportional behavior with the increase of the optical fiber laser frequency; iii) the best condition to improve the wear resistance of the ISO 5832-1 austenitic stainless-steel was obtained adopting an optical fiber laser frequency of 350 kHz, being reported the lower wear volume.
