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The growing demand for sustainable, high-performance composite materials has increased the interest in natural fibers as reinforcements for brake friction materials (BFMs). Silk and Grewia optiva fibers, in particular, have emerged as promising candidates for BFMs due to their good mechanical properties, biodegradability, and availability. To evaluate their potential, friction materials were formulated with 6% Grewia (GF), 6% silk (SF), and a hybrid formulation containing 3% of both fibers (SGF), alongside a reference material reinforced with 6% aramid fiber (AF). These composites were then tested on a braking tribometer using an extended SAE J2522 procedure to assess their performance. The AF formulation showed slightly better wear resistance and the GF formulation showed inferior performance during high-temperature cycles, whereas SF and SGF performed close to the reference formulation (AF) in these sections. In terms of friction stability, SF matched the AF formulation, while GF demonstrated significantly poorer stability. The first high-temperature exposure of the BFMs (Fade 1) served as a critical thermal settlement phase, after which they demonstrated both improved friction stability and repeatable performance characteristics. Finally, this study demonstrates that silk fiber represents a viable, sustainable alternative to aramid in BFMs, exhibiting comparable performance in terms of friction stability and thermal resistance.
Details
; Singh, Tej 2
; Barros, Liu Y 3
; Poletto, Jean Carlos 4
; Lasch Germano 3
; Rodrigues, Alice A 3
; Souza, Régis H, S 3
; Ferreira, Ney F 3
; Sharafat, Ali 5 ; Neis, Patric D 3 1 Laboratory of Tribology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Sarmento Leite 425, Porto Alegre 90050-170, Brazil; [email protected] (L.Y.B.); [email protected] (G.L.); [email protected] (A.A.R.); [email protected] (R.H.S.S.); [email protected] (N.F.F.); [email protected] (P.D.N.), Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123 Trento, Italy
2 Savaria Institute of Technology, Faculty of Informatics, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, 9700 Szombathely, Hungary; [email protected]
3 Laboratory of Tribology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Sarmento Leite 425, Porto Alegre 90050-170, Brazil; [email protected] (L.Y.B.); [email protected] (G.L.); [email protected] (A.A.R.); [email protected] (R.H.S.S.); [email protected] (N.F.F.); [email protected] (P.D.N.)
4 Soete Laboratory, Ghent University, Technologiepark Zwijnaarde 46, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium; [email protected]
5 Allied Nippon Private Limited, Sahibabad 201010, Uttar Pradesh, India; [email protected]