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Laser surface modification is a widely used technology to improve the properties of functional surfaces. In this study, the properties of gray cast iron are modified by laser surface modification, and the influence of laser quenching on the properties of cast iron in terms of frictional vibration and noise, friction and wear, internal structure, residual stress, hardness, and corrosion resistance is investigated. The experimental results show that, after high-power laser quenching, the frictional vibrations and noise of most gray cast iron specimens are decreased, but the coefficients of friction against a bearing steel counterface are increased and more stable. The surface and sub-surface hardness of all laser-quenched cast iron specimens is significantly increased. The residual stresses on the surface of the cast iron specimens are significantly increased and changed from tensile to compressive residual stresses. Experimental modal testing results show that the modal damping ratios of the laser-treated specimens are increased significantly, although their modal frequencies are not significantly changed. In addition, through the metallographic observation, XRD (X-ray diffraction) analysis, and TEM (transmission electron microscopy) observation, it is found that the microstructures of the cast iron specimen after high-power laser modification become fine-grained, and the pearlite and ferrite in the matrix become fine martensite, which leads to the improvement of the dynamical, tribological, and chemical properties of cast iron after laser modification.

Various textures are fabricated by a picosecond laser machine on the surfaces of circular stainless steel specimens. Vibrational and tribological effects of laser surface textures are investigated by means of a tribometer and a data acquisition and signal processing (DASP) system. Experimental results show that surface textures can reduce the coefficients of friction (COFs), enhance the wear resistance, and improve the dynamical performance of frictional surfaces. In this study, the surface with micro circular dimples in diameter of 150 μm or textured area density of 25% has the best tribological and dynamical performance. Compared with the non-textured surface, the surface with circular dimples in diameter of 150 μm and 15% textured area density has 27% reduction of COFs, 95% reduction of frictional vibrations, and 66% reduction of frictional noise. The frictional vibrations and noise in the sliding contacts can be effectively reduced by adding graphene to the lubrication oil, and the surface textures enhance the frictional noise reduction performance of lubrication.

Performance prediction plays an important role in the predesign stage of centrifugal compressors. A set of loss models is usually selected and grouped to fulfill the above prediction. To improve the defects of traditional prediction, we modified the outlet velocity and slip coefficient of the impeller by means of the energy average method to obtain theoretical work. A new volute loss model is proposed to replace the traditional semiempirical loss model by adopting a suitable loss model for each flow passage component. A proper performance prediction method is established for the centrifugal compressor studied in this paper. The overall performance of a single‐stage centrifugal compressor is predicted and compared with experimental and numerical simulation results. It is found that the prediction method proposed can better predict the overall performance of the centrifugal compressor. And the volute loss is the third largest loss after impeller loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]