Effects of Mixing the Steel and Carbon Fibers on the Friction and Wear Properties of a PMC Friction Material

Abstract

Friction, fade and wear characteristics of a PMC friction material containing phenolic resin, short carbon fiber, graphite, quartz, barite and steel fiber were investigated through using a small-scale friction testing machine. Four different friction materials with different relative amounts of the carbon fiber and steel fiber were manufactured and tested. Comparing with our previous work which contained only steel fiber as reinforcement, friction characteristics such as fade and recovery and wear resistance were improved significantly by adding a small amount of carbon fiber. For the mixing of carbon and steel fiber, the best frictional and wear behavior was observed with sample containing 4 weight percentage carbon fiber. Worn surface of this specimen was observed by optical microscopy. Results showed that carbon fibers played a significant role in the formation of friction film, which was closely related to the friction performance. The brake pad with Steel fibers in our previous work, showed low friction coefficient and high wear rate. In addition, a friction film was formed on the surface with a relatively poor quality. In contrast, the samples with mixing the steel and carbon fiber generated a stable friction film on the pad surface, which provided excellent friction stability with less wear.

Effect of graphene addition and tribological performance of Al 6061/graphene flake composite

“…From the hardness data, it is being inferred that there is a drastic improvement in the hardness of aluminium alloy composites due to addition of graphene and found to have a significant improvement for all weight fractions of graphene compared to Al 6061 monolithic. The increase in the hardness confirms the formation of more refined compacted structure [16]. Addition of graphene acts as grain growth inhibitor leads (pinning at boundaries) to formation of fine grains which increases the hardness and also added reinforcement fills the micro-voids at lower content [17].…”

Tribological Aspects of Graphene-Aluminum Nanocomposites

“…The increase in the hardness confirms the formation of more refined compacted structure [38], and further increase in the hardness can be estimated by rule of mixture, i.e., increase in the graphene content increases the hardness due to reinforcement effect by filling the micro voids [39]. Further, relative density (ρ exp/ ρ th ) of aluminum and all aluminum-graphene composites was above 98%.…”

Effect of blending cashew oil modified phenolic resin and nitrile rubber on thermal, mechanical, and tribological performance of friction materials

“…From Figure 7A,C,E, it can be clearly seen that the worn surface consists primarily of friction film, wear debris and a lot of pits, among which the friction film is the most important factor that affects how effectively the brakes work, and a suitable friction film will make the friction more stable and decrease the rate of wear. [ 45 ] As illustrated in Figure 7B,D,E, in order to comprehend the formation process of the friction film, a localized portion of the specimen is selected for magnification. A high number of loose wear debris are dispersed near the border of the friction film and between the friction films; therefore, it can be extrapolated that the friction film is mainly secondary plateaus formed by rolling loose wear debris under the influence of heat and force.…”