Characteristics of wear particles produced during friction tests of conventional and unconventional disc brake materials

Peter J. Blau, Harry M. Meyer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

102 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recent attention to the improvement of line-haul truck brake effectiveness, to compensate for lowered aerodynamic drag and to increase road safety, has prompted the US Department of Energy to support several projects aimed at the development of lightweight, high-performance friction materials. Using a specially designed, sub-scale disc brake testing system, a series of experiments was conducted to study the friction, wear, and frictional heating characteristics of both conventional and unconventional candidate disc brake materials. The selected sliding speed (11.0 m/s) was comparable to that experienced by a commercial disc brake surface on a truck travelling 60 miles/h (96.6 km/h). Material combinations included a commercial friction material on a gray cast iron disc, a commercial friction material on an aluminum metal matrix composite disc, a commercial friction material on a cast iron aluminide (Fe3Al) alloy disc, and a carbon/silicon carbide material pad on a disc of similar composition. An adhesive extraction method was used to remove the loose wear particles from the surfaces of the test discs. The characteristics of brake material wear particles differed significantly between the four sliding material combinations studied and are correlated with both surface roughness changes and wear modes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1261-1269
Number of pages9
JournalWear
Volume255
Issue number7-12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2003

Funding

The iron aluminide alloy was specially cast for this project by J.D. Vought, Metals and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The ceramic composite specimens were provided by Power Systems Composites LLC, Newark, DE, and the commercial brake pad material was provided by Bendix Commercial Vehicle systems, a division of Knorr-Bremse LLC. The aluminum composite specimen was provided by D. Herling, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This research project was sponsored by the US Department of Energy, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Freedom CAR and Vehicle Technologies Program, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle LLC, Oak Ridge, TN.

Keywords

  • Brakes
  • Carbon-Ceramic Composites
  • Cast iron
  • Friction materials
  • Intermetallic alloys
  • Wear debris

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