The low hardness and poor wear resistance of AISI 316 L austenitic stainless-steel sabotage its outer appearance and shorten its service life when it is subjected to sliding. In this paper, the single-pass ultrasonic surface rolling (USR) process was used to modify the surface of 316 L austenitic stainless steel. A nanostructured surface layer with a depth span of 15 μm was fabricated. Dry wear tests of USR samples were performed on a ring-on-block tester at room temperature, and the results were compared with those for the as-received sample. The USR sample showed a significant reduction in wear mass loss and an improved hardness, as well as a decreased surface roughness. The detailed wear mechanism was also investigated by SEM observations of the worn surfaces. It was indicated that oxidation and abrasive wear, accompanied by mild adhesion, dominated the wear of USR 316 L stainless steel at both low and high speeds. The superior wear performance of USR 316 L was attributed to its nanostructured surface layer, which was characterized by a high hardness and thereby suppressed the severe abrasive wear. The results provided an alternative approach to modifying the surface of 316 L stainless steel, without changing its surface chemical components.

Aiming at improving the mechanical efficiency, the applicability and the working life of high water-based hydraulic motor (HWBHM) under working conditions at low speed and high pressure, the friction performance of different matching materials for piston slipper – crankshaft pair with high water-based hydraulic fluid (HWBHF) under working conditions at low speed and high pressure – were studied. The friction experiments for different materials (316L, 316L with surface coating OVINO – tetrahedral amorphous carbon [TAC; 316L-TAC] – 316L with surface coating OVINO-graphite intercalated compound [GIC; 316L-GIC] and polyetheretherketone [PEEK] reinforced with 30 per cent carbon fiber [PEEK-30CF]) under HWBHF lubrication were implemented on a pin-disk friction abrasion machine to determine the variations of coefficient of friction (CoF) and wear rate for each matching materials. In addition, the roughness and the morphology of worn surface of different matching materials were quantitatively characterized. The study revealed that material combinations have different friction performances. Test results showed that the abrasion of matching type stainless steel (SS) and SS is rather serious, and the method of surface coating could improve the friction performance of SS when friction with other materials. For matching type of SS with surface treatment (SS-ST) and SS-ST, 316L-GIC and 316L-GIC have relatively stable CoF, and the wear rate was smaller than other matching materials, while 316L-TAC and 316L-TAC has the smaller CoF than that of 316L-GIC. Matching materials 316L-GIC with PEEK-30CF of matching type SS-ST and PEEK-30CF has more stable COF and better wear resistance than those of other matching materials. This research has laid a foundation for the improvement of service life and working efficiency of friction pair in HWBHM under working conditions at low speed and high pressure.

Because of the low viscosity of high-water-based fluids, the intense wear and leakage of key friction pairs represent a bottleneck to the wide application of the high-water-based hydraulic motor in engineering machinery. In this work, based on the common characteristics of plane friction pairs, the friction experiments of a 316L stainless steel (316L)–polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) friction pair under various working condition were carried out by a self-designed friction experimental system with fluid lubrication. The influence of lubrication pressure and surface morphology on the 316L–PTFE friction pair was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The experimental and numerical results indicated that increasing lubrication pressure reduced the surface wear of PTFE sample, but the leakage of 316L–PTFE friction pair also increased. It could not form an effective fluid lubrication film in the 316L–PTFE friction pair under low lubrication pressure, which caused the severe wear in friction pair interface. The smooth 316L surface could be conducive to the formation of high-water-based fluid lubrication film in 316L–PTFE friction interface. The pressure distribution of high-water-based fluid lubrication film in 316L–PTFE friction pair was also obtained in fluent. The PTFE surface was easily worn when the lubrication film in the friction pair was too thin or uneven. The friction and wear were obviously improved when the normal load was balanced by the bearing capacity of the high-water-based fluid lubrication film.

To improve the low viscosity and poor lubrication characteristics of high-water-based hydraulic liquid, the abrasion and leakage problems in hydraulic components need to be addressed. In a high water-based hydraulic motor with self-balanced distribution valve (HWBHM-SDV), there are two key friction pairs: the piston-crankshaft pair and piston-swivelling-cylinder (PSC) pair. To study the working performance of the PSC pair in HWBHM-SDV, we firstly designed the structural parameters. We found that, within the working speed 0–100 rpm, the leakage in the PSC pair is mainly caused by pressure-gradient flow, and the influence of the seal will not be significant when the seal length is 24 mm. Then, the friction coefficients of different matching materials were tested. It was found that the friction coefficient of 316L stainless steel with OVINO-GIC (OVINO-graphite intercalated compound) coating (316L-GIC)/PEEK reinforced with 30% carbon fibre (PEEK-30CF) is about 0.02~0.04, and the friction coefficient of 316L-GIC/316L-GIC is about 0.05–0.07. Finally, the influences of factors (clearance, temperature, pressure, and material) on leakage performance were analysed based on an orthogonal test method considering fluid-structure interaction. It was found that clearance has the most significant influence on leakage, followed by pressure and liquid temperature, and the difference between matching materials 316L-GIC/316L-GIC and 316L-GIC/PEEK-30CF is insignificant when the clearance is less than 8 μm and the working pressure is less than 10 MPa. Moreover, the difference in volume efficiency loss between theoretical analysis and calculated result considering fluid-structure interaction increases with the increase of working pressure and working speed. To ensure good working performance of a PSC pair, matching materials 316L-GIC/PEEK-30CF could be selected for pressures below 15 MPa, while 316L-GIC/316L-GIC could be used at 28 MPa.

Single-rod electrohydraulic system is widely applied in industrial production due to high power-to-weight ratio, but it generally has a low energy efficiency and has many system states which need to be measured. Therefore, an output feedback controller with energy saving is proposed in this paper. The designed controller only needs a displacement sensor to detect the position of the single-rod cylinder; the other states of the system are estimated by extended state observer (ESO). Besides, a nonlinear disturbance observer (NDO) is introduced to estimate the external mismatched disturbance. The output feedback controller based on extended state observer and nonlinear disturbance observer has a better tracking performance compared with other controllers. In addition, a proportional relief valve (PRV) is introduced to control the supply pressure of the system. The variable supply pressure reduces the energy of throttling loss and overflow loss, which achieves energy saving of about 54% according to the simulation results. Meanwhile, the tracking error of the energy saving controller is stable at 0.1 mm. In a word, the proposed controller not only achieves energy saving but also has a satisfactory trajectory tracking performance.