Brake particle emissions: Effect of temperature and modeling of temperature behavior

• Characterization of brake wear particle number and size at brake test bench. • Effect of different braking profiles on particle number and size. • Surface disc temperature measurement through an infrared camera. • Braking profile and brake temperature have a strong impact on particle emissions. • Disc thermal model is setup on purpose and validated with experimental measurements. Reducing the non-exhaust particle emissions has become the new challenge to pursue a more sustainable transport system. Understanding the characteristics of brake wear particles and the factors affecting their formation is essential for developing effective control measures. This study reports an experimental investigation on the particles emitted from a brake for automotive. A finite-difference thermal model of the disc and the pads was built on purpose starting from the experimental configuration. It was tuned and validated with the measurements performed at the test bench and then used to evaluate the brake thermal status under new testing cases. Experimental results demonstrated that the braking profiles strongly influence the particle number and size. At the same profile, the temperature plays a significant role on particle emissions as well. The model showed good potential in the prediction of the brake disc temperature and provided a simplified bi-dimensional distribution of the disc temperature.