Pyrolytic carbon wet friction materials

The characteristics of carbon fabric may provide significant performance advantages in off-highway wet brake and clutch applications.

Composite materials have been around for centuries, with the earliest being the mixing of straw with clay to produce stronger bricks. Today's advanced composite materials typically use man-made fibers such as carbon, fiber-glass, or aramid for strength, held together with a resin matrix or binder such as epoxy, phenolic, or polyester.

Likewise, carbon/carbon materials start with a porous carbon-fiber structure. A carbon matrix is then generated in the pores to produce a stiffened composite material. For friction materials, the carbon matrix is typically generated by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, also known as the chemical vapor infiltration process.