Laser surface texturing offers a possible solution for reducing friction between sliding surfaces in engineering applications. Optimized surface topography can also contribute to reduced wear and elevated longevity by modifying the load and speed-dependent friction state in a system. This preliminaryexperimental study investigates the applicability of affordable fibre laser marking systems for microtexturing piston rings, in order to achieve a measurable reduction in friction under subsystem model conditions. A selection of textures are applied to chromium-coated cast iron piston rings. The resulting surface topographies are characterized through confocal microscopy and subjected to friction testing. A correlation analysis is conducted on surface topography parameters to identify key laser process parameters. Findings indicate an improvement in the range of 7–8% in terms of friction coefficient with appropriate texture size.

Fe-based metallic glasses are ideal candidates to be utilized in transformer cores owing to their outstanding soft magnetic properties. However, they are difficult to machine properly by conventional means due to their mechanical brittleness and poor thermal conductivity. Here, the cutting of Fe91–Si4.5–C4.0–Al0.5 amorphous alloy ribbons is reported with a sub-50 fs laser pulses. A systematic study is performed on local morphological and chemical composition changes to the machined edge in comparison to crystalline metals. It is shown that only the innermost 80 (Formula presented.) m wide region of the cut edge shows any detectable modifications, which is much less than for continuous laser machining. Therefore, the proposed method is indeed a valuable approach to overcome the fine machining difficulties of metallic glasses.