Axisymmetric FEA of temperature in a pad/disc brake system at temperature-dependent coefficients of friction and wear

Abstract Robust braking results in heat generation whose effects may have considerable impact on the parameters of the process such as wear rate and coefficient of friction. Fluctuations of the latter disagree with essential operational and braking requirements. Finite element analysis (FEA) of a single braking process for axisymmetric heat conduction problem of friction in a pad/disc brake system in the present article was carried out. Two materials of the pad FC-16L (retinax A) and FMC-11 (metal ceramic) and one material of the disc ChNMKh (cast iron) were analysed. Experimental dependencies of the coefficient of friction and wear rate on the temperature under specified contact pressures for these two friction pairs were approximated and applied to FE contact model. The temperature and wear evolutions on the contact surface of the pad/disc brake system obtained for constant and temperature-dependent abovementioned coefficients were confronted and compared. Mutual correlations of the obtained results with the studied materials were discussed.