Wear 426–427 (2019) 1176–1186

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Wear
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wear

Effect of perforated structure of friction block on the wear, thermal T

distribution and noise characteristics of railway brake systems
⁎
B. Tang, J.L. Mo , J.W. Xu, Y.K. Wu, M.H. Zhu, Z.R. Zhou
Tribology Research Institute, School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The influence of a customized friction block with a hole in the middle of the block surface is studied in this paper.
Sliding wear Factors including wear, thermal distribution and noise performance of railway brake systems are investigated
Brake materials using a customized small-scale brake dynamometer. Experimental results show that the perforated friction block
Thermal effects can affect wear debris distribution, thermal distribution, and noise characteristics of the brake system con-
Brakes
siderably. The perforated block is able to trap a large portion of wear debris and form smoother contact plateaus
Surface analysis
on the worn surface compared to the block without perforation. This characteristic is beneficial to improve the
wear status of the friction interface. Additionally, the perforated block displays a uniform thermal distribution
on the friction interface, and exhibits lower brake noise during testing. Utilizing the test phenomena, the cor-
relation among wear, thermal distribution, and noise characteristics of the brake system is analyzed and dis-
cussed.

1. Introduction
The rapid development of high-speed trains has resulted in in-
creasing technical requirements for the friction block in brake systems.
During sustained mechanical braking, uneven wear [1] of the block
surface can lead to vibration of the friction interface and corresponding
noise will be generated [2,3]. This phenomenon does not adhere to
environmental standards, and is detrimental to passenger riding com-
fort. Additionally, uneven wear can lead to over consumption of friction
material [4–6] and uneven thermal distribution [7–10] in the friction
interface, resulting in the reduction of braking torque which pose a
threat to the safe operation of railways. Therefore, reducing brake noise
and improving the thermal uniformity of the braking interface is of
great significance to the future development of high-speed railways.
Up to present, a large amount of study has been undertaken to in-
vestigate the thermal properties of the brake interface [9–13]. Gao et al.
[11] used numerical simulations to discover that the pad volume, rather
than the pad exterior surface, has significant influence on the heat
dissipation progress. Panier et al. [12] used a thermal camera to ob-
serve the distribution of hot spots by testing three different friction
blocks, discovering that the number of hot spots rises with the decrease
in arc length of the friction block. In addition, some researchers cor-
related disc temperature with the wear status of the disc surface. Li
et al. [9] found that a higher braking energy can lead to a hardened
layer forming on the friction surface and oxide generation near the
crack edges, thus identifying two other important factors that can result
in the acceleration of crack propagation. Kasem et al. [10] studied hot
spots on the disc surface by using an infrared camera and a two-color
pyrometer, finding that frictional force variations and subsurface da-
mage are related to surface temperature. Considering the complexity of
frictional events [14,15] and the contaminant of the braking interface,
the thermal properties of the braking interface may be affected by the
wear characteristics of the block surface.
Additionally, many studies on the reduction and suppression of
brake noise have also been conducted over the past decades using ex-
perimental [5,16–21] and numerical approaches [21–28]. Structural
modifications to friction material that are considered important and
effective for reducing noise emissions have received much attention
from tribologists. Researchers have found that the chamfered pad [29],
slotted pad [30], and even pads with different geometrical shapes
[31,32] all have a significant effect on the noise characteristics of brake
systems. It is important to note that the reduction of noise emissions in
railway brake systems has rarely been investigated as most laboratory
investigations have focused on the automobile industry. A notable case
is the TGV brake system [21] for which a fine numerical model was
developed and used to study the brake noise generation mechanism and
effect of the pad shape on noise performance. However, brake noise is
not only governed by traditional dynamics, but also relates to

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jlmo@swjtu.cn (J.L. Mo).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2019.01.016
Received 3 September 2018; Received in revised form 5 December 2018; Accepted 3 January 2019
0043-1648/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
B. Tang et al. Wear 426–427 (2019) 1176–1186

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the brake dynamometer.

Table 1 tests has been carried out to reveal the potential relationship between
Mechanical and physical properties of the frictional materials. the working parameters and the squeal noise characteristics. However,
Disc sample Block sample the relationship between the friction block structure and brake prop-
erties (interfacial friction and wear, thermal distribution and brake
Material Forged steel Copper-base powder metallurgy squeal instability) is not studied systematically, and their potential in-
Density (kg/m3) 7850 4500–5000
teractions is not established. In this work, the brake friction behavior
Young's modulus (GPa) 210 6.5
Surface hardness HV0.5360 15–25HBW
related to the friction block structure is studied experimentally. A
customized perforated friction block is manufactured and introduced
into the railway disc brake dynamometer, then the role of this pad
Table 2 block structure in affecting the friction and wear and noise of brake
Chemical compositions of the block sample. system is verified. The aim of this work is to emphasize the role of
friction block structure in affecting the brake properties, and accord-
Element Cu Fe Graphite MoS2 FeCr SiC Others
ingly establish the relationship among friction and wear, interfacial
Content (wt%) 45–50 13–15 18–20 4–6 6–8 2–4 3–5 thermal distribution and brake squeal. The finding of this work will be
beneficial for seeking an effective method to improve the brake prop-
erties of the railway brake system.
tribological science. Moreover, previous researches have proven that
surface topography can affect sound pressure level and its generation
[6,33,34]. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effect of struc-
tural modification on brake noise through a tribological perspective.
In our previous work [35], a series of brake squeal experimental

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of sample dimensions and contact positions.

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B. Tang et al.
Fig. 3. Worn surfaces of imperforate (a) and perforated (b) block.
Fig. 4. Micrographs acquired from the region A and B of the block surfaces.
2. Experimental details
2.1. Presentation of the brake dynamometer
In this work, a small-scale brake dynamometer was designed and
developed to investigate the effect of the perforated friction block on
brake properties. Although the experimental model reduces the com-
plexity of a real high-speed train brake system, it contains the most
important components of disc brake system, i.e. disc and pad, which
possesses the essential features of a real brake system and is beneficial
for us to reveal the relationship between friction block structures and
brake contact interfacial properties. In addition, this experimental
model establishes a simple friction coupling contact between two im-
portant components (brake pad and disc), which permits the occurrence
of modes lock-in [25] between the components through a friction in-
terface at a reduced scale. Therefore, this dynamometer is considered to
be able to reflect the actual brake properties. As shown in Fig. 1, this
dynamometer provides a stable disc rotation speed in both clockwise
and anti-clockwise directions using an 11 kW AC motor, and the im-
posed loading is activated by a pneumatic pressure system. According
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Wear 426–427 (2019) 1176–1186
to experimental requirements, the electronic control system can adjust
disc rotation speed and normal force, and determines the brake form
(brake-type or drag-type) by controlling the status of the clutch. The
dynamometer is assembled with the following measurement instru-
ments:
A torque sensor (Sensitivity: < ± 0.5% F•S) is set to the position
between the flywheel sets and the brake disc by connecting two rigid
couplings. This sensor is used for recording the disc rotation speed and
brake torque generated by the friction between the disc sample and the
block sample.
A 3D piezoelectric accelerometer (Sensitivity: 100 mV/g) is
mounted on the block holder to capture the dynamic response of the
brake system in a tangential, normal and radial direction. The analyzed
frequency range is up to 15 kHz.
A pre-polarization microphone (Sensitivity: 36.7 mV/Pa) is placed
approximately 20 cm away from the block sample to record the sound
signals during the tests. The analyzed frequency range is up to 20 kHz.
A handheld thermal camera (Sensitivity: ± 2 °C) is used to observe
and track the real-time thermal evolution of the disc surface. More
importantly, this thermal camera can also observe the temperature
B. Tang et al.
Fig. 5. Wear characteristics of the perforated block surface.
distribution of the block surface after the test. Although there is a slight
error between the measured temperature value and the true tempera-
ture value when the block sample is removed from the friction inter-
face, thermal distributions trends on the block surface can still be ob-
served.
The signals collected from the torque sensor, accelerometer, and
microphone are received and analyzed by an 8-channel signal acquisi-
tion and analysis system. Thermal images captured by a thermal camera
are processed through analysis software to obtain and the temperature
values of an arbitrary point, and the max/min values of a customized
area in the images.
2.2. Sample preparation
Disc samples and block samples are cut directly from a real railway
brake disc and railway brake pad, respectively. These materials and
mechanical properties are listed in Table 1, and the chemical compo-
sition of the block sample is shown in Table 2.
The disc sample is machined to a thickness of 15 mm and a diameter
of 138 mm. To study the influence of the perforated friction block on
the wear, thermal distribution, and noise performance of railway brake
systems, two block samples, with and without a hole in the middle of
the block surface are used. The samples share the same outer shape as
real friction blocks used in China Railway High-Speed (CRH) brake
systems. The concrete geometrical properties of the block samples and
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Wear 426–427 (2019) 1176–1186
their contact position with the disc samples are illustrated in Fig. 2.
2.3. Experimental work
Before the formal tests, a running-in process is performed to obtain a
sufficient surface-to-surface contact state between the disc and block. In
this study, a constant rotation speed of 200 rpm and an imposed normal
force of 312 N are applied for 120 s testing time, so that a drag-type
experimental method can be achieved. To ensure test reliability and
experimental repeatability, more than five tests are carried out for each
friction block, and the ambient environment is controlled strictly in the
temperature range of 22–27 °C and 65–75% relative humidity. All tests
start when the initial temperature of the disc surface drops to ap-
proximately 50 °C.
3. Experimental results and analysis
3.1. Effect of perforated structure on wear behaviors of the block surface
Fig. 3 illustrates the macroscopic worn surfaces of the imperforate
and perforated blocks at the end of the tests. Based on the distribution
of wear debris, two zones of the worn surface are identified and labelled
region A and B. In zone A, little wear debris is piled up, while in zone B,
more accumulated and compacted wear debris is detected. It can be
clearly observed that the worn surface of the imperforate block exhibits
B. Tang et al.
Fig. 6. 3D topographies around zone 1 (a), zone 2 (b), and zone 3 (c) of the worn surface of perforated block.
a large zone B, in which plenty of wear debris piled up. Visibly, for the
perforated friction block, the zone A is represented by an annular region
in the middle of the block surface, the area shows very clean surface
and a large amount of wear debris is found to be trapped into the hole
of the perforated friction block. While for the zone B labelled beside the
zone A, the surfaces is relative complicated in which a large amount of
wear debris is piled up. Thus these two zones show totally different
wear situations.
Typical micrographs acquired from the region A and B of the two
block surfaces after testing present a great difference regardless of the
block type, as provided in Fig. 4. The friction surface is characterised by
both types of contact forms. The contact form reflected by region A is
the metallic matrixes exposed to material surface, displaying these
bright yellow areas shown in Fig. 4(a) and (c). Another contact form is
represented by the region B. In this area, the material surface is mainly
covered by a mass of wear debris which is spread by compacting and
shearing, forming a new layer of piled up third body. These new contact
plateaus are identified as the main bearing platforms on the friction
interface.
The worn surface of the block sample appears as a rugged platform
due to the different wear rates of the material components. Some me-
tallic particles and fibers with high wear resistance will restrict
scratching better than the neighboring soft material and thus form high
plateaus [4] which are also called primary plateaus [36]. To further
understand the structure forming features of the contact plateaus, and
detect the effect of the perforated structure on wear behaviors of the
block surface, several micrographs obtained from different positions
(zone 1, zone 2, and zone 3) on the perforated block surface are illu-
strated in Fig. 5. During the sustained friction process, some parallel
scratches created by abrasion appear in the primary plateaus. More
generated wear debris will then become entrapped in the low-lying
scratches and pile up continuously. This process creates secondary
plateaus, as exhibited in zone 1 and zone 2 (both belonging to region
A). It can be seen that more secondary plateaus are present in zone 2
than zone 1. This is because a lot of wear debris generated at zone 1
moves with the friction direction in the hole of the block, while
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Wear 426–427 (2019) 1176–1186
simultaneously, some wear debris accumulated in the hole fall off into
region 2. This causes more wear debris to pile up in zone 2, and con-
sequently form more secondary plateaus in this region.
It's worth noting that the previous secondary plateaus consistently
formed around the leading edge (the edge that comes into contact with
the rotating disc first) of primary plateaus, which can be observed
clearly in Fig. 5(b) and (e). In previous studies [6,34], contact stress
was found to concentrate at the leading edge of the friction material
during the friction process, thus severe wear normally occurs near the
leading edge, creating a relatively low rugged area. This low area ac-
cumulates wear debris easily, which may explain why the secondary
plateaus initially form at the leading edge of primary plateaus. Fig. 5(c)
presents a typical structure of the contact plateau observed in zone 3.
This plateau has been exposed to repeated rubbing action because of
the abundant accumulated wear particles. Thus, the thin layer of wear
debris formed on this plateau have been created and destroyed re-
peatedly, and some exfoliation and scratches are present due to the
abrasion.
The 3D topographies around zone 1, 2 and 3 are observed by a
white-light interferometer to detect the wear characteristics of the
perforated block, as illustrated in Fig. 6(a). A relatively smooth contact
plateau with some irregular valleys is present, corresponding to zone 1.
This indicate that the leading area of region A undergoes mild wear.
From Fig. 6(b), corresponding to zone 2, some clear scratches are
present on the contact plateaus. This suggests that the abrasion caused
by hard particles on the worn surface is more severe for the trailing area
than for the leading area of region A.
In the zone 3 (see Fig. 6(c), corresponding to region B), it is clearly
observed that this zone experiences more wear debris accumulation,
with an extremely uneven worn surface on which plenty of dispersed
wear debris are fixed to the contact plateaus or stored in the valleys.
Some clear grooved traces can also be observed due to the severe wear.
The wear situation shown in this area is different from that shown in
the region A, this can be attributed to the characteristic of contact si-
tuation during the friction process. When the friction block is rubbing
with the disc, due to the combined effect of disc out-of-plane movement
B. Tang et al.
Fig. 7. EDX analysis of different structures in the zone 3 of perforated block.
and interfacial friction force, the mainly contact are of friction block is
located on both sides of friction block [37], thus the zone 3 shows a
more severe and complicated wear situation comparing to that of re-
gion A.
From above results and analysis, the presence of perforated struc-
ture is able to collect a large portion of wear debris and acquire larger
region “A” which occupy an annular area in the middle of the block
surface. The surface region “A” of the perforated block experiences a
relative mild wear, especially in the leading area of the region, while for
the region B, undergoes severe wear. This indicates that the existence of
the hole in the middle of the block affects the distribution of wear
debris on the block surface, resulting in varying wear situations in
different regions.
To further understand the structures that exist on the worn surface
of the perforated block, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observa-
tion is carried out on the trailing area of region A of the perforated
block (corresponding to Fig. 5(d)). The SEM images are provided in
Fig. 7, where it can be observed that wear debris is agglomerated in the
pits and valleys of the relatively smooth worn surface. Energy dis-
persive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis is also conducted to de-
termine the different components of the worn surface. The black sub-
stances can be easily identified as graphite flakes, as an extremely high
carbon element peak displayed in spectrum (see Fig. 7(a)), and the
addition of graphite is used to improve the lubrication properties of
friction material [38].
Fig. 7(c) presents the spectral results of the primary plateaus and
shows that the main elements in this area are steel and copper fibers.
Due to the low solid solubility of iron in copper, the presence of iron in
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Wear 426–427 (2019) 1176–1186
the matrix strengthens the composite, thus contact plateaus are easily
formed during the braking process. In addition, the secondary plateaus
and agglomerated wear debris exhibit almost the same spectra, as seen
in Fig. 7(b) and (d). This provides clear evidence that secondary pla-
teaus evolve from the continuous accumulation of wear debris. Fur-
thermore, the spectral results from the wear debris confirm the pre-
sence of the element chromium, which is contained in the FeCr abrasive
particles. These particles possess high chemical stability, and can be
used to maintain a stable braking force and provide protection against
the negative lubricant effect.
3.2. Effect of the perforated structure on thermal distributions of friction
interface
Fig. 8 shows thermal images of the disc surface at measuring times
of 30 s, 60 s, 90 s, and 120 s (the end of the test), when testing the
imperforate block and perforated block. The images illustrate the
thermal evolution that occurs on the disc surface during the brake tests.
The areas outlined in solid black line represents the mirrored positions
of the friction blocks, and show the maximum, minimum, and average
temperature values of the effective contact area of the disc surfaces
which rub against the friction blocks. The distribution of the thermal
annulus (i.e., the annular region of a red or white color that is under-
going greater friction) of the disc surface displays clear differences
between the imperforate block and perforated block. For the im-
perforate block, thermal annulus always shows a trend of concentration
in the middle of the entire friction ring area during the testing process,
reaching the temperature of 80.8 °C at the end of the test. For the
B. Tang et al.
Fig. 8. Evolution of thermal distributions on disc surface for the testing of imperforate block (a) and the perforated block (b).
Fig. 9. Contrast of temperature difference on the disc surface.
perforated block, the annular section relating to the radius with covered
perforated structure displays a relatively low temperature. The high
temperature region occurs on both sides of the friction ring area, and
the highest temperature value, is found in the outer thermal annulus
due to high linear speed.
In general, the uniformity of thermal distribution on the disc surface
is an important index to reflect braking properties. The difference in
values between the highest temperature and the lowest temperature
inside the solid black frames, shown in Fig. 8, are calculated, and the
obtained results are illustrated in Fig. 9. As expected, temperature
difference rises with the increase of testing time for both of the block
samples. However, the temperature difference on the disc surface is
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Wear 426–427 (2019) 1176–1186
always higher for the imperforate block than for the perforated block.
This phenomenon indicates that the disc surface exhibits relatively
good thermal uniformity when it rubs against the perforated block.
Thermal distribution on the disc surface is strongly related to the
wear of the block surface. Thus, the thermal images of block surfaces
after testing, and the wear morphologies of corresponding partial areas
are observed to explore the correlation of thermal distribution with
wear behaviors. Fig. 10(a) shows that the imperforate block contains
surface with extremely uneven heat distribution, and the high tem-
perature areas correspond the location of the thermal annulus on the
disc surface (see Fig. 9(a)).
The SEM micrograph shows that the worn region displaying high
temperature is covered by a large amount wear debris, as shown in
Fig. 10(b). In this area, primary and secondary plateaus are barely
observed due to the accumulated wear debris (the powdery third body),
which contribute to the main load bearing of the contact interface.
Fig. 10(c) is the surface appearance from the low temperature area, in
which there are less accumulated wear debris than in the high tem-
perature area, and some contact plateau powdery third bodies and
graphite flakes are observed. Therefore, the contact pressure and fric-
tion generated in the low temperature area are supported by both
contact plateaus and accumulated wear debris. The contact plateaus are
also covered by some dispersive wear debris, and experience repeated
abrasion by hard particles. Subsequently, the third body powder is
spread by contact and shearing, resulting in more material detachment.
Some layers of accumulated thin stratums are also formed in the contact
plateaus, as shown in Fig. 10(d).
Fig. 11(a) shows that the surface heat of the perforated block also
unevenly distributed. The high temperature area is located at the two
side regions (the inner edge and outer edge of the whole friction ring) of
B. Tang et al. Wear 426–427 (2019) 1176–1186

Fig. 10. Thermal distribution and topographies of the worn surface of the imperforate block.

Fig. 11. Thermal distribution and topographies of the worn surface of the perforated block.

the block surface, and exhibit strong consistency to the results provided
in Fig. 3(b) and Fig. 9(b). Additionally, as expected, the region of the
circular hole in the middle of the friction block is a high temperature
zone due to the thermal expansion of the atmosphere.
Similar to the worn surface of the imperforate block, the surface
topography acquired from the high temperature area contains abundant
wear debris, and only a small quantity of contact plateaus and graphite
flakes are observed (see Fig. 10(c)). However, the worn surface with a
low temperature contains more large graphite flakes, and a number of
smooth contact plateaus, as shown in Fig. 10(b) and (d).
According to the above thermal images and the SEM graphs, it can
be concluded that the accumulation of abrasive particles on the block
surface has a great influence on the thermal distribution of the contact
interface. The region that experiences serious accumulation of wear
debris has a high surface temperature due to the effect of repeated
grinding and the increased real contact area. However, the regions with
more contact plateaus as main load bearing, possess a relatively small
real contact area (the wear debris in the valleys have hardly scratched

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B. Tang et al. Wear 426–427 (2019) 1176–1186

Fig. 12. Time-domain analysis (a) of the sound signals and corresponding ESPL (b) for the two block samples.

the disc surface), and a reasonably large graphite surface with the lu-
brication effect. Therefore, this region experiences comparatively small
amounts of friction and consequently has a low temperature status.

3.3. Effect of the perforated structure on noise performance

The experimental results discussed above prove that a perforated

structure in the middle of the friction block has a significant influence
on the tribological behaviors of the block surface, and also affects
thermal distributions of the friction interface. Previous studies have
found that the tribological behaviors of the contact interface can also
affect friction-induced vibration characteristics and the corresponding
noise performance of brake systems [28,29]. In this section, the vi-
bration and noise characteristics of two block samples during testing
are analyzed and discussed to detect the effect of the perforated
structure on noise performance.
Fig. 13. Frequency spectral analysis of two kinds of block samples.
The time-domain analysis of the sound pressure and corresponding
equivalent sound pressure levels (ESPL) for the two block samples is
presented in Fig. 12. Results show that the imperforate block exhibits a

Fig. 14. PSD analysis of the normal (a) and tangential (b) vibration acceleration.

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B. Tang et al.
Fig. 15. Sound signals (a) and corresponding ESPL (b) of a short time with stable noise for the two block samples.
Fig. 16. PSD analysis of sound pressure signals in the period t1 and t2 for the
imperforate block.
noise signal with high oscillation amplitudes during entire testing
process, and the average ESPL value of during testing is 85.8 dB, far
more than the value for the perforated block. In addition, power
spectral density (PSD) analysis of the noise signal illustrates that the
imperforate block exhibits a dominant frequency at 203 Hz, and some
high-frequency components in the range of 7600–8200 Hz. For the
perforated block, the same low frequency component of 203 Hz is the
only frequency displayed, as shown in Fig. 13. This result indicates that
the perforated block can improve brake noise by reducing low fre-
quency groaning and suppressing high frequency squeal.
The PSD curves calculated by normal and tangential vibration ac-
celerations of the two block samples are presented in Fig. 14. Regard-
less of the block type, the spectral results are highly consistent with
noise signals in terms of the excited frequency components, proving
that noise emission generated from the brake system are due to friction-
induced vibration of the brake interface. Additionally, it is worth noting
that the PSD value of the high frequency vibration component
(8008 Hz) for the imperforate block in the normal direction reaches
110.3 dB. This is far higher than for the tangential vibration direction in
which the PSD value is 98.2 dB. The low frequency vibration compo-
nent (203 Hz) of the imperforate block displays PSD values of 95.2 dB in
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Wear 426–427 (2019) 1176–1186
the normal direction, and 103.3 dB in the tangential direction. Fur-
thermore, similar spectral results are found in the perforated block. This
phenomena indicate that the high frequency squeal noise is mainly
attributed to the normal vibration of the friction interface, while low
frequency noise is induced easily by tangential vibrations with high
vibration energy.
Combing the surface wear situation and squeal noise behaviors of
both brake systems, it can be concluded that the wear situation has a
strong relationship with the squeal instability of the brake systems.
Contact surface with more wear debris accumulation and more severe
wear situation can result in higher level of squeal noise emission. This
can be attributed that the wear debris accumulation will cause the
generation of contact plateaus, which will carry the main part of fric-
tion force of the systems and their deformation will influence the dy-
namics of the global system as well. During brake process, the oscilla-
tions of the plateaus will accordingly cause the lateral oscillations of the
friction forces of the pad surface on a macroscopic scale and conse-
quently excited the whole system to generate vibration [39], thus for
the brake system with imperforated friction block, the contact surface
suffers more severe wear which leads to a higher level sound pressure.
To further investigate the noise characteristics of the two block
samples, short time signals of 1 s with a stable noise are extracted and
analyzed. Results are presented in Fig. 15, showing that the block
samples both exhibit a successive oscillation during the disc rotation
period, which takes 0.3 s. Comparatively, the oscillation amplitude of
sound pressure, and the corresponding ESPL for the imperforate block
display a gentle oscillation (like the signals generated in the period of
t1), and a huge fluctuation (like the signals generated in the period of
t2). Fig. 16 presents the spectral analysis of sound pressure signals
generated in the periods of t1 and t2, which are shown in Fig. 15. Only a
low frequency component (203 Hz) is found in the period of t1, while
for t2, a low frequency component of 203 Hz, and a high frequency
component of 8003 Hz appear simultaneously. From these results, it can
be understood that the gentle oscillation represents low frequency
noise, and the huge oscillation of sound pressure signal is the high
frequency squeal.
4. Conclusions
This work present an experimental investigation of the brake
B. Tang et al.
properties in railway disc brakes. A customized friction block with a
hole manufactured in the middle of block surface is exploited, and the
relationship between the friction block structure and brake properties
(interfacial friction and wear, thermal distribution and brake squeal
instability) is studied systematically. Based on the experimental results
and corresponding analysis, it is concluded that:
● The existence of the circular hole in the middle of the friction block
can entrap wear debris and affect the distribution of the wear debris
on the block surface.
● Distribution of wear debris on the block surface can affect the wear
situations. The surface regions with a small quantity of wear debris
accumulation are found to experience relatively mild wear, while
the surface regions with more piled up wear debris present severe
wear.
● Surface regions with serious accumulation of wear debris can lead to
the high surface temperature. This can be attributed to the repeated
grinding of wear debris and the increase of real contact area, which
will further increase the friction force of this regions.
● Surface regions with more contact plateaus and graphite flakes as
main load bearings possess a relatively small real contact area, and
the graphite flakes play a role of lubricant, thus the corresponding
friction force has decreased, and consequently lead to the low sur-
face temperature.
● Perforated block have experienced mild wear in the leading area of
the block surface, and this is the reason why the imperforate block
exhibits a low sound pressure level.
Funding
This work was supported by the authors are grateful for the fi-
nancial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 51822508, No. 51675448).
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