Friction materials for brake systems typically contain metallic components to improve their wear resistance, thermal conductivity and strength. Various metals such as copper, steel, iron, brass, bronze, and aluminum are used in friction materials the form of fibers or particles. Friction and wear of friction materials are affected by the type, morphology, and hardness of the metallic components.
Steel fibers are currently used in the friction materials industry as they provide good wear resistance and maintain frictional performance at elevated temperature. However, steel fibers can cause excessive wear on the disc, resulting in large thickness variations in the disc, which is the main cause of brake shaking or vibration. The reason is the high hardness and good metal adhesion of the steel fibers to the friction material. The friction coefficient obtained from pure metal-to-metal contact, however, is often different from the friction coefficient of a composite containing metal sliding against a metal surface; the discrepancy is due to the influence of other components in the composite. Not much is known about the role of metal fibers in friction materials in braking performance due to the interactions of different components of friction materials at the sliding interface.
In the thesis, we discussed the influence of reinforcement particles in composite friction material. We investigated the effect of different contents of steel fibers on the friction and wear of different brake friction pairs. The purpose of the assignment was to investigate the properties of the friction material in terms of its mechanical properties such as wear, shear strength and tribological properties in the presence of reinforcing fibers. Four different mixtures of composite friction materials with different content of steel fibers were produced for the tests. The experimental work included the preparation of the mixture, hot pressing of the samples and heat treatment. In addition, the manufacture of a dedicated tool for shear test tubes. To test wear resistance and measure the friction coefficient, we used the Krauss test and the shear test. Light and scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was used to characterize the microstructure of friction materials.
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