Forschung im Ingenieurwesen 66 (2001) 267±272 Ó Springer-Verlag 2001

Friction and wear of brake systems

G. P. Ostermeyer

267
Abstract The contact area in brake systems shows char- 1
acteristic structures. With respect to wear an equilibrium Introduction
of ¯ow of growing and destruction of hard patches is to be If a rigid body is sliding on another body with velocity v,
found on the contact surface. These patches modulate the there occurs an reaction force R called friction. With re-
friction coef®cient of the brake system. The paper deals spect to Coulomb's ideas a dynamic friction coef®cient l is
with this principal wear mechanism of brake pads which described by the friction and normal force N
leads to a new type of differential equation of second order
for the dynamic friction coef®cient describing the sta- R
lˆ : …1†
tionary and transient friction behaviour of brake pads. N
Many known effects of friction in such systems are covered
Usually measurements of this coef®cient shows the de-
by the solutions of this new model.
pendence of the sliding velocity as drawn in Fig. 1. With
respect to friction very famous technical systems are brake
Reibung und Verschleiû in Bremssystemen
systems (see Fig. 2). The aim of engineering design is to
Zusammenfassung Die Ober¯aÈche von technischen
maximize friction forces ± that is the task, the system is for
BremsbelaÈgen zeigt typische Strukturen. Mit dem Vers-
± and to minimize wear for long lifetime.
chleiû des Belages stellt sich ein Flieûgleichgewicht zwi-
The brake pads usually consists on more than twenty
schen Aufbau und ZerstoÈrung von harten duÈnnen
different components. The chemical composition of pads
PlaÈttchen in der Reibschicht ein. Diese PlaÈttchen modu-
seems to be only a warehouse for the friction process to
lieren den Reibungskoef®zienten des Bremssystems. In
build up structured layers in the contact zones. The op-
dieser Arbeit wird dieser prinzipielle Verschleiûmecha-
tical characterizing of these tribological surfaces on an
nismus aufgedeckt und ein dynamisches Modell vorge-
microscopic level is just starting [1, 2]. The connection
stellt, das auf einen neuen Typ von Differentialgleichung
between component mixture and friction layer and the
fuÈr den Reibungskoef®zienten fuÈhrt, der stationaÈre wie
connection between friction layer and friction behaviour
transiente ReibvorgaÈnge in technischen Bremssystemen
of the system is not known yet. So every pad factory
beschreiben kann. Viele bekannte Effekte des Bremsver-
deals with their own formulas for pad production. Op-
haltens dieser Systeme werden durch die LoÈsungen dieses
timizations with respect to pad composition have to be
Modells beschrieben.
done by trial and error.
Whether the friction process in brake systems is not
List of symbols
2 understood physically, the friction process in brake sys-
R kg m/s friction force (unsigned)
tems has some remarkable properties, for a review see [3].
N kg m/s2 normal force (unsigned)
Usually the friction coef®cient l has values between 0.1
v m/s velocity (unsigned)
2 and 0.9. It decreases with disk heat and friction power. In
R kg m/s friction force
automotive cars the friction power ranges up to about
N kg m/s2 normal force
500 W/cm2 and the integral temperature in the contact
m m/s velocity
zone can get values of 300  C. The effect of decreasing
l ± friction coef®cient
friction coef®cient with respect to growing friction power
nv ± reduced product of normal force
is sometimes called fading. The thermal load is not build
and velocity
up homogeneously in the contact zone. Long time exper-
iments show rather periodically changing hot bands on the
Received: 7. February 2001 disk. Another effect known from brake systems and also
from clutch systems is a periodical change of l itself with
G. P. Ostermeyer respect to time. The time periods of these vibrations varies
Institut for Dynamik und Schwingungen from some seconds down to some minutes. Physical ex-
TU Braunschweig, Postfach 3329 planations for these effects are unknown.
D-38023 Braunschweig, Germany This paper deals with principal mechanisms of wear
E-mail: gp.ostermeyer@tu.bs.de
dynamics in the contact zone leading to the characteristic
This research is part of the ``Sonderforschungsbereich 605, structure of friction layer on the brake pad. Consequence
Elementary friction processes'' supported by the German Research is a simple differential equation for the friction coef®cient
Foundation. l, explaining the effects named above. Some hypotheses
 Forsch Ingenieurwes 66 (2001)

Fig. 1. Principal test results of l for different materials in fric-

268 tional contact

Fig. 4. Principal power ¯ows in frictional systems

To simplify the energetic analysis in the following the

frictional motion is assumed to be isotropic and planar. So
the following relation holds
Rm ˆ jjRjjjjmjj ˆ Rv;
Nm ˆ 0 ;
and
jjNjjjjmjj ˆ Nv : …2†
From mathematical point of view there is a characteristic
power with respect to friction power, which is given by the
product of the norm N of normal force with the norm of
sliding velocity v. By simply expanding the quotient (1)
with the sliding velocity v
Fig. 2. Principal design of brake systems
Rv
lˆ ; …3†
Nv
the friction coef®cient l gets a dimensionless measure
of friction power in units of this characteristic system
power. So l is a perfect process parameter for
describing power ¯ows. With respect to the complex
dynamics of the process, l should be the result of a
more or less complex system of differential equations
describing energetic balances. To detect the dynamical
Fig. 3a, b. Dependence of the dynamic friction coef®cient l on
(a) friction power, (b) temperature of disk
structure of l unsteady measurement procedures are
necessary.

this theory starts with, are just veri®ed experimentally by 3

other authors of our research group [4]. Friction and wear in brake systems
The REM picture in Fig. 5, done by coworkers [2] of my
2 research group, shows typical structures of the friction
Energetic analysis of friction layer on the brake pad.
When a rigid body is sliding on a plane, driven by a force On a macroscopic scale nearly the same geometrically
F, an input power as large as the friction power is needed structures are generated, when wood is polished with
to hold the sliding velocity. The contact area between emery paper. The abrasive particles ®xed on the paper
body and plane transform this input power into an en- then produce wood powder, which is moving through the
ergy density on those parts of surface of the plane, which contact zone. The local heat of the grinding process forms
are running out the contact zone with the body. This thin and hard wood patches on the emery paper from the
energy density should be independent of the sliding ve- powder ¯ow. If the density of abrasive particles on the
locity by Coulomb's ideas. Of course the energy density is paper is large enough, these wood patches grow together,
usually manifested physically in thermal energy and/or making the emery paper un®t. To avoid this failure in
changes in surface and material. The aim of our research machines, usually the density of abrasive particles is
project Sfb 605, ``elementary friction processes'', sup- chosen rather small and the ground body of emery paper
ported by the German Research Foundation, is the rather elastic. These modi®cations make the wood pattern
analysis of power ¯ows in frictional systems, sketched unstable, when they reach a characteristic size. The emery
out in Fig. 4. paper is self cleaning then.