A New Appraisal of the Thermomechanical Behaviour of a Hybrid Composite Brake Disc in a Formula Vehicle

The present work promotes a hybrid composite brake disc for thermal and structural analysis of a formula vehicle. In order to reduce the un-sprung weight without compromising the strength, hybrid composite materials were incorporated in the disc plates of the braking system. In the disk brake system, the disc is a major part of a device used for slowing or stopping the rotation of a wheel. Repetitive braking of the vehicle leads to heat generation during each braking condition. Based on the practical understanding the brake disc was remodeled with unique slotting patterns and grooves, using the selected aluminium alloy of (AA8081) with reinforcement particle of 15wt% Silicon carbide (SiC) and 3wt% Graphite (Gr) as a hybrid composite material for this proposed work. By varying slotting pattern and groove angles the transient thermal and structural analysis using ANSYS workbench on the hybrid composite disc plate of disk brake is done. The main purpose of this study is to analyse the thermomechanical behavior of composite brake disc for a formula vehicle under severe braking conditions. To ensure the braking conditions, the coupled field analysis is done on the disk brake to determine the deformation and the Von Mises stress developed in the disc for both solid disk and disk provided with multiple ventilations (slotting patterns and grooves angles) using the hybrid composite material to improve the performance of the brake disc. Hence the best suitable design of disc plate with the hybrid composite material is recommended based on the performance, strength and rigidity criteria. Also, it will be recommended for fabrication and real-time usage in formula vehicles.