Thermomechanical and Tribological Properties of SiC/Gr Reinforced Hybrid Aluminum Composite for Disc Brake Application

Abstract

The disc brake motorcycle material has been developed by using aluminium matrix composite (AMC) reinforced with matrix particulate ceramic. The composite has many advantages: lightweight, high re-sistance to wear, and controllable strength by adjusting the reinforcement materials percentage. The main issue is the environmental factor that influences the surface properties of the disc. The research aims to study thermomechanical and tribology characteristics to determine the effect of the environmental factor on the composite's wear-out rate. The disc is made from matrix Al7Si6Mg9Zn composite matrix with 10% SiC and 10% graphite (v/v). The disc is produced by squeeze casting method and heated for 4 hours at 180 °C as artificial aging heat treatment. Thermomechanical characteristics are carried out by observing the temperature changes when a load is introduced to the disc. The pin-on-disc method is applied at three different speeds (60, 80, and 100 rpm) under the wet and dry surface on the disc for observing the tribo-logical properties. Thermomechanical characteristics of the disc are average braking time is 3.72 seconds, where the average braking distance is 515.8 cm at speed 40 km/hour with the average temperature of 46.12 °C. The wear-out rate results are steady, where the highest wear out rate for the dry surface is 0.725 mm3/N.m and 6.133 mm3/N.m for the wet surface at 100 rpm.