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850990

A Systematic Approach to the

Analysis of Brake Noise
Harlow W. Schwartz and William D. Hays, Jr.
Allied Automotive
Bendix Friction Materiais Div.
James H. Tarter
Allied Automotive
Allied Automotive Technical Center

ABSTRACT large amount of instrumentation required

to perform a noise test. Installation
Brake noise is a complex phenomenon and operation of this equipment in a
and a full understandino of it has vehicle is difficult and may require an
eluded investigators for- many years. operator in addition to the driver.
Initially, methods of evaluating the Considerations of instrumentation
noisiness of a given brake consisted of reliability in the vehicle environment
running it in a vehicle road test and also becomes very important. In
recording the test driver's opinion of addition, maintaining consistent
its noise characteristics. When a brake operating conditions with vehicle
was judged to be excessively noisy, the testing is much more difficult than it
friction material took the brunt of the is with dynamometer testing in a
blame, and the frequent approach to laboratory. In the early stages of
curing the problem consisted of running evaluating a brake design, maintenance
more vehicle tests using alternate of consistent operating conditions is
friction materials. In this paper, a more critical than obtaining totally
more systematic approach to the control realistic operating conditions.
of disc brake noise is suggested. First SPECIAL DYNAMOMETER--The special
are described test methods, based on the inertia dynamometer and instrumentation
use of modern techniques, including the used by Allied Automotive Technical
Fast Fourier Transform Analyzer and Center in Troy, Michigan to perform
Computer Data Acquisition Systems which brake squeal tests in the laboratory
replace or supplement tests where the have been described in a previous paper
output is the subjective opinion of a (I)*. There have been no significant
test driver. Second are described changes in test equipment or
approaches to the design of quiet brakes instrumentation since the publication of
which consider not only the friction that paper. There have been refinements
material, but also the friction pad in test procedures and, especially,
assemhly and other components. methods of presenting test results that
have been developed in the last two
TESTING BRAKE STRUCTURE AND PROCEDURES years.
In a standard brake noise test, a
There is no doubt that the final burnish conditioning is conducted and
evaluation of the noise characteristics followed by four runs with data being
of a given brake design must be based on taken in each run for 25 to 30 stops.
the results of vehicle testing. There Two of these runs are made with the
is no substitute for vehicle tests brake generally cooling down, and two
performed in the actual environment. with the brake generally heating up.
Although vehicle tests are absolutely The cooling tests are performed by
necessary to determine the final continually stopping the brake until the
suitability of a brake design, they are pad temperature is over 450 degrees F.
far from an ideal means of comparing Wheel speed is then set to 100 RPM and
various alternative designs in the early ~~~_uQ~~i~~Q __ ~ra~~ li~~ __ £~~~~~~~ __ i~
and middle stages of an evaluation. l1umbers in parentneses designate
This is primarily a consequence of the references the end of the paper.

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selected. As the brake cools, stops are If there are several squeal peaks
made and data is taken at initial pad on a given spectrum, a single total
temperatures of 400, 350, 300, 250, and sound pressure level is computed from:
200 de~rees F. Since brake line
pressures of 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and
300 psig are used, a cooling run n
provides data from 30 stops. A heating
run is performed with a wheel speed of
400 RPM and starts with a pad
STOT 10 109~sn/l0
temperature of 150 degrees F or less. 1
The pressure is set to the desired value
and the brake is continually stopped. where STOT Total sound pressure level
Then as the brake heats up, data is
taken as close as possible to initial n· Number of squeal peaks in
pad temperatures of 200, 250, 300, 350, the spectrum
and 400 degrees F. Using pressures of Sn RMS sound pressure level
100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 psig, the of the nth peak averaged
heating run produces dota from 25 stops. over the full stop
Since there are two cooling runs and two
heating runs, a complete test contains If a sound spectrum contains no
data from 110 stops. discernable squeal peaks, that stop is
The primary data from a squeal test assigned a sound pressure level of 50
are 110 sound pressure level spectra and dB, which is the nominal background
a typical spectrum is shown in Figure 1. noise level at frequencies greater than
Squeal peaks are usually very prominent 8 kHz.
and can easily be distinguished from the The total sound pressure levels
background noise. The frequency, measured during a run are very
rounded to the nearest kHz, and the conveniently displayed in a pseudo-three
magnitude, rounded to the nearest dB, dimensional plot of which Figure 2 is a
are tabulated for each peak on each typical example. Such a pictorial
spectrum. The magnitudes are display quickly reveals the noisy and
unweighted, that is the A weighting quiet regions of the
scale is not used. pressure-temperature plane.

SQUEAL PEAKS
80

60

40
4 8 12 16

FREQUENCY kHz

Fi~ure 1 - Typical Sound Spectrum Of A Brake Squeal

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0 0 0 400 DEG F
50 50 50

0
50 ~
64 81 S1
0
50
§J
67
350 DEG F

0
50
~
64
§J §J § ~
67 68 77 64
300 DEG F

0 0 0 0 0 0 250 DEG F
50 50 50 50 50 50

0 0 0 0 0 0 200 DEG F
50 50 50 50 50 50
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1Z0 1Z0 1Z0 1Z0 1Z0 1Z0
....~
iSJ
0
iSJ
....0 III
~ 0
iSJ
~
III ":i

Figure 2 - Sound Pressure Levels Measured During One Run Of A Typical Test

Frequency is also an extremely When the squeal peaks are listed in

important parameter for describing the order of frequency, the median frequency
squeal properties of a brake. A is the middle value of frequency. For
convenient method of presenting this the example shown in Figure 3, the
information i5 to plot the number of median frequency is between 10 and 11
occurrences of the squeals at each kHz. Since human perception of the
frequency for a complete 110 stop test. loudness of sound tends to drop with
A typical plot is shown in Figure 3. As increase in frequency above 2500 Hz, it
can be seen from this example, over a is desirable that the median frequency
third of the squeals were at a frequency be high.
of 6 kHz while many others were in the ~eaningful conclusions can be drawn
10 to 12 kHz range. Disc brakes regarding the effects of various changes
typically squeal at very few when a brake is systematically tested
frequencies. using procedures similar to those
A concise format is desirable to described above. In particular, the
describe the results of a brake noise effect of a given change on the number
test.. One possible method is to report of occurrences of squeal, their general
only the arithmetic average of the total sound pressure level, the distribution
sound pressure levels measured during of frequencies, and the pressures and
the 110 stops and the median frequency temperatures at which squeal occurs may
of all the squeals occurring during the be assessed. With this informatinn,
110 stops. The average sound pressure intelligent decisions regarding the most
level is not a physically meaningful efficient methods of reducing the squeal
parameter since it is an arithmetic of a given brake maybe made.
average of a logarithmic quantity. INERTIA DYNAMOMETER--Onlv the
However, it is a useful index of how primary brake structure a~d the
noisy a brake is. Wit.h a 50 dB base, operating cowponents of a brake are
the average sound pressure level of an reqUired for brake noise studies ano
acceptably quiet brake should have an this was identified from our earlier
average sound pressure level value no investigations. For the disc brake, the
greater than 55 dB. necessary parts are the steering

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15,-------------------------,

U1
W
U 12
Z
W
0:::: A
0::::
::J
U
9 i\.
,••
U I\
o i\
I..L..
o 6 I\
0::::
W
.ii i\ ,
,1'......
/\
/\
(Il
L
::J
3 i" i /' v \. /".
i \
/i \ //\
Z
o L- : ~
--L1_--L\_--i..
\ .~••, >___..<...~
/" \•
. l_..J

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

FREQUENCY - kHz
Figure 3 - Squeal Frequencies Measured During a Single Test

knuckle, rotor, caliper and pads; and D.25 second intervals. The maximum,
for a drum brake, the required parts are minimum and average values are stored
the anchor plate, drum, shoes and for each brake application. An acoustic
various retaining springs and plates. signal is obtained from a microphone
The normal inertia brake dynamometer mounted approximately one inch from the
uses these same combinations of brake disc rotor. Figure 5 shows how this
components to make up test fixtures and signal is processed. The raw microphone
therefore it could be utilized for signal is recorded on a four channel
conducting brake noise studies as well recorder. The DAS processes the six
as any other similar testbed unit. At acoustic signals in the same manner as
Allied Automotive's Bendix Friction the other test siqnals from the brake
Materials Division, a passenger car dynamometer. Vibration data is obtained
dynamometer was adapted for noise from an accelerometer and is processed
testing and control console is shown in in the same manner as the microphone
Figure 4. signal.
An enclosure was built to house the After a test, the information is
test fixture, a portion of the air available from tape recordings in analog
cooling ducts, and tailstock of the form for FFT analysis and in digital
dynamometer as well as providing form either as in-application data or a
operator access space for working on the summary of each application. The
test brake. This enclosure eliminates detailed data analysis can vary Widely
background noise due to other depending on emphasis of the given
dynamometers and laboratory test investigation.
equipment. The walls and top of the A typical procedure for a brake
enclosure were constructed of 3/4 inch noise test consists of a set of
plywood and lined with 1/16 inch lead conditioning applications and a matrix
fo i 1 . of applications at different tempera-
The data acquisition system (DAS) tures and various pressures similar
records speed, brake line pressure, to tests described earlier. Some test
torque, several temperatures, and procedures may include several speeds
acoustic and/or vibration signals at for different portions of the test.

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Figure 4 - Inertia Brake Dynamometer Control Console With Noise Recording Units

MIKE
SIGNAL

TAPE
1
0-1 1-4 4-~ 9-15 15 + FILTERS
RECORDEf

I -I
RMS/ RMS/ RMS/ RMS/ RMS/ RMS/
AMPLIFIERS
LOG LOG LOG LOG LOG LOG

J
FFT DAS

Figure 5 - Schematic For Processing Brake Noise Microphone Signals

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VEHICLES--Sometimes the brake noise 1. A microphone is attached to

studies have required a different one or both front wheel
approach than using the dynamometers wells approximately two
described above. A specific case was inches from the hub.
the investigation of creep groan or stop
light crunch which is a very low 2. The vehicle with driver
frequency brake noise and vibration inside is attached to a
phenomenon. In this study, the test winch which can move the
environment was developed on the actual vehicle at a rate of 8 feet
vehicle as the noise occurred when the per minute.
vehicle speed was next to zero or just
before coming to a complete stop. These 3. The rear brake lines are
requirements allowed testing to be shut off and the driver
conducted inside a building or applies pressure to the
laboratory. front brakes (if using
A procedure was developed for a microphone on only one
quick screening and evaluation of wheel the other front brake
friction materials for studying this line was shut off before
type of noise on a front wheel drive applying pressure). Once
vehicle with front disc brakes. New specified pressure is
linings are installed on the front achieved, the brake line is
brakes of the test vehicle with at least shut off to hold the
one thermocouple in the lining on each pressure constant.
brake. An accelerated conditioning of
these linings are conducted by using the 4. The vehicle is then pulled
vehicle according to the following with the winch with one or
steps: both front brakes applied
at the specified pressure
1. Initial lining temperature and the noise recorded on
is used as a control level. high quality cassette tape.
5. This procedure is repeated
2. Front brake only snubs are at the following line
made from 55 mph to 40 mph pressures at ambient
at 10 fpsps deceleration temperature (125 degrees F
until front lining maximum): 50 psi, 100 psi,
temperature reaches 400 200 psi, 300 psi, and 400
degrees F. psi. Two appl ications are
made consecutively at each
1 i ne pressure.
3. Forty (40) front only
snubs from 55-40 mph at 10 6. Following the ambient test
fpsps decel are made with the brakes are heated to
initial lining temperature 250 degrees F by raising up
of 400 degrees F. the front end of the
vehicle and dragging the
brakes at 30 mph with
4. Lining temperature is 100-200 psi applied brake
increased to 800 degrees F line pressure.
with front only snubs from
55-40 mph at 15 fpsps 7. The creep groan
decel. applications described in
step 5 above are repeated
at 250, heated to 500
5. Thirty-five ( 35) front degrees F, and then repeat
only s nu bs are made from step 5 at 500 degrees F.
55-40 mph at 15 fpsps
docel vii t h initial 1ining The tape recordings are analyzed
temp of 800 degrees F. with a FFT spectrum analyzer and in a
similar manner as the tape recordings
After conditioninq, the vehicle is from the dynamometer tests. In the
placed in a "low' ambient noise creep groan test, only frequencies below
environment " for measurement of creep 1000 Hz are studied for acoustic and
groan according to the following vibration characteristics and
procedure. intensities.

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IMPROVING BRAKE COMPONENTS FOR NOISE material, such as brake linings. Three
REDUCTION ingredients were identified as having
the largest impact on creep groan and
Individual brake components are this was accomplished in approximately
studied to determine how they are four weeks.
involved in the generation of brake During the probing phase, two
noise. The key components for approaches were taken, 1) change the
consideration are the friction levels of the suspect ingredients and 2)
materials, rotors and disc pads. find replacements for the suspect
FORMULATING FRICTION MATERIALS-- ingredients. By changing the levels of
Friction materials and their the suspect material, a formula with
formulations are developed over time better creep groan properties was
using knowledge regarding properties of developed. However, this formula had
various ingredients, processing unacceptable levels of friction and
operations and evaluation tests. As a wear. The second approach was used
result, the friction materi.l compounder where one of the suspect ingredients was
follows a methodology to develop a partially replaced with three other
suitable friction material for a given materials (one at a time). The test
application. This process consists of results showed excellent creep groan
three major activity phases, screening, performance but unacceptable brake
probing, and optimizing. In the first squeal with all three replacement
phase, screening, the compounder materials.
determines what materials have an effect These two approaches were combined
on the property being modified (eg. resu1tino in a better material.
friction, wear, noise). In this phase a However, -friction, wear and brake squeal
quick screening test may be used which properties of this new material were
measures only the response variable in still at unacceptable levels. The tests
question. Other responses are ignored. used for this phase of the program
This is the shortest phase and, included the vehicle screening test,
depending on the property being local vehicle traffic testing and
modified, usually takes frnm six to ten dvn.mometer wear/friction testing.
weeks. Total time spent in probing phase
The second phase, probing, is the activity was approximately 8 weeks.
most time consuming of the friction A Fractional Factorial Design was
material develooment and can involve used to begin the optimization phase.
three to twelve months time. During The most promising replacement material
this period, the compounder evaluates was considered in the design using the
the relative maqnitudes of effects and best base formula from the probing phase
selects the most promising approach(s) experiments. In addition the levels of
based on effects on the other response two other base inoredients were also
variables (ie. what are the "trade varied in the design. Although the
offs"?). result of this experiment was expected
In the last phase, optimizing, the to involve one or two iterations, one of
compounder determines the best approach the initial materials of the
to give the optimum overall combination experimental design matched the overall
of properties for the friction material. requirements and this material was
Optimization typically takes three to started on a I'prove out testing l!

six months to complete. program. Eventually this selected

An example of compounding a material was released for commercial
friction material for reducing creep use.
groan noise will illustrate this The tests used in this phase of the
methodology. The given task was to program included the vehicle screening
reduce "creep groan/stop 1ight crunch" test described above, local vehicle
of a current product while maintaining traffic testing, dynamometer friction
acceptable levels of friction, squeal and wear testing. Total time was
and wear. approximately two months.
In the screening process, the level ROTORS--fihen a brake squeal s, the
of Bach material component of the base same squeal frequencies occur over and
formula was varied individually with all over again. If different brakes nf the
other components changed proportionally. same nominal design are tested, the
The resulting materials were screened di,tribution of squeal frequencies is
using the vehicle test procedure very similar for a standard test
described above. This technioue is perforMed on each brake.
considered a classical compounding If a disc brake rotor is ve r y
method for determining which ingredients I i~htly struck with a hammer and its
affect the performance of a composite vibrations are monitored with i\

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microphone or accelerometer, the rotor lower modes of vibration are obtained.

has many natural frequencies. A Both straight bending and torsional
passenger car disc brake rotor will have modes exist in the pads as well as
more than a dozen. Most, but not all, combinations of these modes. Long pads
brake squeals have a frequency that have a lower frequency first mode than a
corresponds to one of the natural shorter pad. Some of these natural
frequencies of the rotor. However, only frequencies do match with the rotor
certain rotor natural frequencies appear frequencies but mayor may not correlate
as commonly occurring in the brake to the brake squeal frequencies.
squeals. It has also been demonstrated that
Each natural frequency of a redesign of the friction pad can have a
continuous structure such as a disc significant effect on disc brake squeal.
brake rotor has associated with it a Special "damper plates' have been
mode shape which is the pattern of its incorporated in disc pad assemblies for
deformation at that natural frequency. some time. Many of these are
References (2) and (3) show typical disc undoubtedly true dampers of the
brake rotor mode shapes. constrained layer viscoelastic type.
The determination of the mode Others may produce their useful effect
shapes for a given structure is known as by modifying the friction between the
modal analysis. This can be done by pad and the caliper. In one case,
either experimental or analytical machining away the central part of the
methods. A number of companies market friction material, leaving friction
computer software to be used with material only at the ends of the
various FFT analyzers to perform friction pad assembly, made squeal worse
experimental modal analysis. A (1). Other variations of pad contact
discussion of modal analysis procedure area size and shape have shown a
is outside the scope of this paper. reduction in brake squeal. Also some
Redesign of the rotor is a experiments suggest that the bending
promising method of reducing brake stiffness of the friction pad assembly
squeal and this has been demonstrated. can have a significant effect on brake
The use of damped cast iron to minimize noise. The desire for easy maintenance
brake sDueal has been advocated for to remove and insert pads in calipers
years (4). Cutting four equally spaced may increase the propensity to squeal by
radial slots through a rotor disc from not restraining the pad in a
the free edge to the hub completely sufficiently rigid manner. Still more
eliminated squeal in one instance (1). design effort could be undertaken on the
This modification is too extreme to use friction pad assemhly and method of
as a production configuration because of mounting pads in the caliper for
the reduction in rotor strength and the reducing the tendency of a brake to
probable increase in brake wear. squeal.
However this result does show that
modifying the rotor can have a profound SUMMARY
effect on brake noise and does suggest
that investigation of other This paper has given an outline of
modifications to the conventional design a systematic approach to the control of
of rotors for purposes of reducing brake brake noise. This systematic approach
noise could be worthwhile. depends first on the use of test
DISC PADS--The experimental modal procedures which permit an evaluation of
analysis procedure can also be applied the noise characteristics of a given
to the vibration study of disc pads. brake design in a controlled laboratory
These pads are generally a two part environment without depending upon the
construction where a friction materiel suhjective judgements of test operators
is attached to a metal backing plate by or drivers. Meaningful brake noise
rivets, bonding or integrally molded. tests require the use of a modern Fast
The accelerometer is attached to the Fourier Transform Analyzer and are made
backing plate and the hammer is used to more useful by a computerized data
strike the backing plate at identified acquisition system. Systematic test
points. A number of vibration modes can procedures not only produce informRtion
be identified by this analysis but on the sound pressure levels of brake
reflect the influence of the metal noise, but also reveal the frequency at
backing element. When the hammer is which it is occurrioD, and the brake
used to strike the friction material, a pressures, temperatures, and other
smaller number of vibration modes will operating conditions at which noise is
be found as the friction materiel occurring. This information allows one
attenuates the high frequency components to derive rational conclusions regarding
of the hammer impact. Hence only the the effect of changes one makes to the

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brake configuration. Secondly, the

systematic approach to the control of
brake noise requires that one view a
brake noise problem as a brake system
problem, rather than as a problem of one
particular component of the brake
system, such as the friction material.
All parts of the brake system must
receive attention. Experimental work
has shown that modifications to the
rotor and the friction pad assembly, as
well as chanqes to the friction material
can significantly reduce the squeal of a
given disc brake. A systematic approach
to controlling brake squeal as described
here can reduce the cost of the effort
and greatly increase the probability of
its success.
REFERENCES
1. J. H. Tarter, "Disc Brake Squeal",
SAE Paper 830530.
2. A. M. Lang and H. Smales, "An
Approach to the Solution of Disc
Brake Vibration Problems", Instn.
Mech. Engrs, Paper C37/83.
3. H. Murakami, N. Tsunada, and
T. Kitamura, "A Study Concerned
with a Mechanism of Disc-Brake
Squeal", SAE Paper 841233.
4. E. J. Miller, "Damping Capacity of
Pearlitic Gray Iron and Its
Influence on Disc Brake Squeal
Suppression", SAE Paper 690221.

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