Investigation of Disc/Pad Interface Temperatures in Friction Braking

Abstract

Maintaining appropriate levels of disc-pad interface temperature is critical for the overall operating effectiveness of disc brakes and implicitly the safety of the vehicle. Measurement and prediction of the distribution and magnitude of brake friction interface temperatures are difficult. A thermocouple method with an exposed hot junction configuration is used for interface temperature measurement in this study. Factors influencing the magnitude and distribution of interface temperature are discussed. It is found that there is a strong correlation between the contact area ratio and the interface maximum temperature. Using a designed experiment approach, the factors affecting the interface temperature, including the number of braking applications, sliding speed, braking load and type of friction material were studied. It was found that the number of braking applications affects the interface temperature the most. The real contact area between the disc and pad, i.e. pad regions where the bulk of the kinetic energy is dissipated via friction, has significant effect on the braking interface temperature. For understanding the effect of real contact area on local interface temperatures and friction coefficient, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is conducted. It is found that the maximum temperature at the friction interface does not increase linearly with decreasing contact area ratio. This finding is potentially significant in optimising the design and formulation of friction materials for stable friction and wear performance.