Multi-scale morphological analysis of brake lining surface and load-bearing arrangement in the contact

Abstract In the case of braking, a diversity of friction mechanisms occurs at the interface, caused by the heterogeneity of the composition, properties, and thermal phenomena. After friction, the obtained surfaces of the brake lining materials are highly heterogeneous. Load-bearing plates which are also called contact plateaus are formed with a compacted third body and constitute the sites of energy dissipation and sliding velocity accommodation. Their arrangement and preferential localizations in the contact constitute a key factor for the understanding of friction-induced phenomena and braking performance. Within this framework, a morphological characterization method has been set up based on several measurement techniques to explore the macroscopic and microscopic contact situation of the pad-disc system. The results show that exploiting Abbott curve parameters combined with roughness parameters is an effective way to give a detailed and comprehensive morphological description of the brake pad friction surface. It can be seen that the contact plateaus have preferential locations which give a particular load-bearing arrangement in the pad-disc interface which can be explained by friction and wear mechanisms. Results reveal also the main encountered difficulties, especially regarding the significance of scales and parameters describing the morphology of the friction material surface and the load-bearing plates disposition.