Production of ceramic additive automotive brake lining and investigation of its braking characterisation

The aim of the research is to investigate the ceramic brake lining on the brake performance.Design/methodology/approach – The brake lining which has new formulation has been produced by using various additive materials. Various techniques have been used in the production of brake lining. These ceramic linings were subjected to friction and wear tests under different loads, and changes in the hardness and microstructures were examined.Findings – As a result of this study, the following findings are reported. A direct proportional was not found between hardness and wear resistance due to the complexity of composite structure. Kevlar fibers were homogeneously distributed in the matrix and therefore, very few microvoids were observed in the structure. Similarly, stone wool was well spread out the braking pad and hence decreased the microvoids' occurrence. Heat treatment supplied more homogeneous structure and hence, microstructural variations were minimised during the brake action. On the other hand, heat treatment decreased the hardness of glass fiber reinforced specimens and increased the density. Each specimen was affected from the environmental conditions. However, water affected all specimens more than the other environmental conditions, such as salty water, oil and braking liquid. With the increasing of temperature, the ingredients in the braking pad were affected other due to better diffusion. On the other hand, hardness of specimens increases and density decreases due to heat treatment and also specific wear ratio changes.Research limitations/implications – Limitations in the present research are as follows: two different pressures and eight different temperatures were used and brake linings were subjected to wear test, hardness tests, microstructures were examined.Practical implications – For future work, instead of buying expensive brake lining, new and cheaper ceramic linings are produced. By this process, economic benefit can be gained and also environmental protection can be succeeded in producing such asbestos free brake linings.Originality/value – This paper fulfills an identified information and offers practical help to the industrial firms working with brake lining and also to the academicians working on wear of materials.