Manufacturing of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Silicon Carbide - Zirconium Diboride Composite Brake Rotors using Electric Field Assisted Sintering

High performance fiber reinforced ceramic rotors have the potential to greatly improve metrics in heavy vehicles such as braking distance, acceleration time, maximum speed, fuel consumption, improved handling, and increased vehicle maximum loads. Three types of carbon ceramic composite brake rotor materials were created using polymer infiltration pyrolysis (PIP) for carbon fiber reinforced silicon oxicarbide, reactive melt infiltration (RMI) for carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide, and electric field assisted sintering (EFAS) for carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide-zirconium diboride to investigate the manufacturing of 396mm diameter heavy vehicle brake rotors. The microstructure of parts created by each manufacturing method were discussed and contrasted. The EFAS manufactured rotor created the highest quality part due to extremely fast processing times, uniform material microstructure, and fusing of adjacent fibers in the carbon fiber network. Thermal conductivity was measured to be greater than that of a traditional steel rotor.

Citation: Jorgen Rufner, Clifford Leonard, Steven Nutt, Kevin Hyuyen, “Manufacturing of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Silicon Carbide – Zirconium Diboride Composite Brake Rotors using Electric Field Assisted Sintering,” In Proceedings of the Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS), NDIA, Novi, MI, Aug. 16-18, 2023.