Friction-reducing micro/nanoprotrusions on electrodeposited Ni–Co alloy coating surface fabricated by laser direct writing

Ni–Co coating or texturing surface has been studied extensively to improve the anti-friction ability of the surface. In this paper, we combine the advantages of Ni–Co coating and textured surface, and then use a simple, novel and easily controlled method to fabricate a series of micro/nanoprotrusions on the Ni–Co coating surface. The nanotribology properties were characterized by AFM. The result shows that the micro/nanotextured surface significantly reduced the friction forces compared with the original Ni–Co coating surface. The half-ellipsoid patterns have better tribology properties than half-hemispherical patterns. Both laser power and laser scanning speed were found to influence the friction performances.