Brake pads are composite materials made from dozens of ingredients intended to simultaneously satisfy various performances such as brake effectiveness, wear, noise and vibrations. For this reason, the friction phenomena that occur during braking are complicated. It is important to clarify the friction phenomena, but that is not easy because the associated complexities as mentioned above.
We looked to acoustic emission (AE) as an online evaluation method of friction phenomena. AE is a non-destructive testing method that measures elastic stress waves caused by the deformation and fracturing of materials. In fact, it has been reported that the difference between abrasive wear and adhesive wear of a metal can be identified from the change in the frequency spectrum of AE signals. In this study, we verify whether differences in the friction phenomena of brake pads are detectable by the AE method.
Three kinds of brake pads were used in the experiments. One of the specimens included an abrasive ingredient, one included an adhesive ingredient, and another included neither. As an analysis of the AE signals from the abrasive pad revealed harmonic signals, it is thought that those signals were caused by the detachment of the tribofilm, not abrasive wear. On the other hand, 600 kHz signals were detected in the adhesive pad. It is thought that those signals were caused by adhesive wear. And, the incidence of the AE signals was different depending on temperature.
