A reduced-scale testing machine for tribological evaluation of brake materials

摘要

In the design process of a brake system, tribological behaviour of brake friction materials is of a critical importance, since it determines the brake system (brake disc - brake lining) performance. The coefficient of friction and wear of the contacting materials vary with local conditions such as contact pressure, temperature and sliding speed. Therefore it is desirable to describe the tribological behaviour of brake materials as a function of these conditions in a well controlled manner without disturbance from the brake system response. In order to meet these requirements a reduced-scale sample-testing machine was designed. The size of the samples was determined considering comparable speed, contact pressure, temperature and geometrical proportions to full-scale systems. The mechanical design and controls of testing head with some preliminary results are presented in this paper.