A Comparison and Identification Study of Dry Sliding Wear Behaviour of Al/B ₄ C _P and Mg/B ₄ C _P Composites for Automobile Disk Brakes

The brake friction materials in an automotive brake system play an important role in the overall braking performance of a vehicle. Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) have been widely investigated and applied due to their advantages of improved strength, stiffness and increased wear resistance over the monolithic alloys in automobile industries.

In this paper, Al/B₄C_P and Mg/B₄C_P composites were compared to find a suitable candidate material for automotive disk brake application, in terms of wear behavior results of the materials. In addition, the experimental data was also used to model this behavior by identification. The measured tangential force was considered as the input parameter, whereas the weight loss as the output parameter. Preliminary results of this work showed that B₄C_P addition improved wear resistance of both aluminum and magnesium matrix composites. Additionally, the study pointed out that identified models provide a reliable and cost effective tool for wear prediction.