A Friction, Wear and Emission Tribometer Study of Non-Asbestos Organic Pins Sliding Against AlSiC MMC Discs

The friction, wear and particle emission from an AlSiC MMC brake disc/non-asbestos organic brake pad system is studied using a pin-on-disc tribometer. The results show that this unconventional AlSiC MMC brake disc system presents friction performance as good as a conventional cast iron brake disc system. During braking, brake pad materials are transferred to the brake disc surface to form a protective third body tribo-layer, resulting in a negative specific wear rate of the brake disc. A higher contact load is likely to make it easier to generate the tribo-layer. The tribo-layer also seems to depend on the disc surface grinding features and the contact temperature during braking. By reusing an AlSiC MMC disc where the tribo-layer is already formed, the airborne emission in terms of mass is about 50% lower and in terms of number about the same as the conventional brake contact pair under a similar braking condition. Further full-scale studies are suggested to determine the validity of the findings.