Evaluation Of Aluminum Alloy Brake Drum For Automobile Application

Abstract The aim of the present paper is to study the braking performance of Al-Si alloys ADC12 26 LM30 brake drums using a brake drum dynamometer test rig. The braking performance of the ADC12 and LM30 alloys is evaluated on the basis of experimental parameters such as coefficient of friction rise in temperature braking torque rotational speed etc. The coefficient of friction as against the normal brake liners is evaluated. The rise in temperature at the inner surface during the braking action has been presented. The results indicated that rise in temperature of brake drum is in the range of 40-50oC in both the alloys. The coefficient of friction was found to be in the range of 0.35-0.42 in both the Al alloys. It was observed that brake force and speed of the drum do not have any appreciable effect on the friction coefficient. Stopping distance after applying the brake was also calculated and it was observed that stopping distance reduces as a function of brake force. At a brake force of 20 N the efficiency is increased to 80-85 . It concludes that LM30 alloy performs better than ADC 12.