Model brake material formulations and their testing at different scale levels

Brakes, being considered as very important parts of automobiles and there have been many different types of brake formulations in use and many innovations are taking place in order to get formulations which gives better braking performance and also environmentally harmless. The possibility of using different solid lubricants in the formula for achieving better brake performance and also the best way of testing the material to be released into the market is investigated. The four pairs of "Crown Victoria 1999" model brake pads are made using the developed formula and tested. The pads are run over the inertia brake dynamometer and Friction Assessment Screening Test (FAST) machine to test their performance. The J2430 standard set by Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) is followed for testing the brake performance. The friction layer is analyzed through the analysis techniques like Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD).