AbstractThe tribological behaviour of oil‐lubricated steel‐alumina sliding pairs was investigated using a ball‐on‐disc tribometer at room temperature. Commercial bearing balls of 10 mm diameter were mated to 99.7% Al2O3discs, and additive‐free mineral oil was fed into the contact area. The sliding speed and the applied normal load were varied, and the initial surface roughness of the Al2O3disc was altered using different polishing and grinding procedures. The results showed that the surface roughness of the ceramic discs dominated the tribological behaviour under the given experimental conditions. The sliding speed as well as the normal load showed less effect on the friction behaviour, but the amount of wear depended strongly on the normal load. From the results it was concluded that improvement of the surface roughness and optimised surface machining of the ceramic material can be essential for improving the tribological performance for boundary‐lubricated steel‐ceramic