Pad stiffness is considered to influence brake squeal, and it is commonly known that the use of stiff pads promotes brake squeal. The use of soft pads, however, adversely influences brake feeling, which is a basic performance characteristic of braking. From the viewpoint of pad stiffness, therefore, brake squeal and brake feeling contradict each other.
Brake feeling is influenced by static pad stiffness, which is obtained by measuring static compression strain. On the other hand, a recent study has shown that brake squeal is influenced by dynamic pad stiffness, which is evaluated by exciting the pads at the frequency and vibration amplitude which cause brake squeal [1, 2 and 3]. This study focuses on the difference between static pad stiffness and dynamic pad stiffness, and investigates the possibility of compatibility between brake squeal and brake feeling.
Researchers have also reported that dynamic pad stiffness is load dependent, and that this load dependency influences brake squeal [1, 2 and 3]. We have therefore investigated the factors of load dependency of dynamic pad stiffness.