Experimental Investigation and Surface Characterization of a Developed Frictional Composite Material for Vehicle Brakes

The frictional composite is an important material in braking system for automotive, trucks or heavy-duty vehicles. In this paper, a proposed frictional composite material has been developed to achieve the ISO requirements for heavy-duty vehicle brakes. This new frictional material has been fabricated with various compositions. Tribological, chemical, mechanical, thermal conductivity and acoustic noise level tests have measure its performance compared to other two commercial samples under certain operating conditions. Surface characteristics of selected samples have been performed using white light optical microscopy (WLOM) in 2D images to insure the material homogeneity. Additionally, surface roughness analyses using atomic force microscopy (AFM) into 2D and 3D images before and after frictional operation have been investigated. The results of test measurements showed that the proposed frictional material has satisfied the standard recommended values for the friction coefficient with maintaining a lower level of wear. The developed material has also satisfied a good strength and stiffness properties. A comparison of experimental investigations for tribological, mechanical and noise level properties with surface homogeneity of two commercial Egyptian brake materials has been performed and showed the well performance of the developed friction composite brake material.