Journal of the European Ceramic Society 36 (2016) 38233832

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Journal of the European Ceramic Society

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jeurceramsoc

Full-ceramic brake systems for high performance friction applications

Nico Langhof a, , Michael Rabenstein b , Jens Rosenlcher c , Reinhard Hackenschmidt d ,
Walter Krenkel a , Frank Rieg d
a

Ceramic Materials Engineering, University of Bayreuth, Ludwig-Thoma-Str. 36b, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany
Center for High Temperature Materials and Design (HTL), Bayreuth, Fraunhofer ISC, Germany
Audi AG, Ingolstadt, Germany
d
Engineering Design and CAD, University of Bayreuth, Universittsstrae 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany
b
c

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 27 January 2016
Received in revised form 22 April 2016
Accepted 24 April 2016
Available online 2 May 2016
Keywords:
Friction
Tribology
C/SiC
Ceramic brakes
Dynamometer
CMC

a b s t r a c t
Ceramic matrix composites (CMC) are promising materials for friction applications. Typically, C/SiC rotors
are combined with organic pads (Low Met). Within this work, two types of CMC brake pads were studied,
C/SiC SF as well as C/SiC SF 11Coke with 11 vol.% coke as ller, accompanied with the Low Met reference
pads. Small brake pads (400 mm2 ) were applied on a lab-scale and larger pads (12,000 mm2 ) on a fullscale inertia dynamometer. In both cases, the corresponding rotor was a C/SiC disc with a SiC-rich friction
layer. Sliding speeds up to 42.6 m/s and braking pressures up to 8 MPa were applied. The smaller CMC
pads show lower wear and higher coefcient of frictions (COF), compared to the reference. This frictional
behavior was conrmed on the full-scale dynamometer with mean COFs up to 0.45. However, the wear
of the large C/SiC pads was somewhat higher on the full-scale dynamometer.
2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In order to overcome the thermal and mechanical limits of conventional organic- or metallic-based braking materials, ceramic
matrix composites are promising candidates. C-ber reinforced
carboncomposites (C/C) are state of the art in aircraft brake systems and in formula one race cars. The ber reinforcement enables
a suitable damage tolerance and favorable mechanical strengths.
Low densities (<2 g/cm3 ) make them very suitable for light weight
applications. However, C/C is not a lifetime material, because of its
insufcient oxidation resistance, the low COFs in humid conditions
and at temperatures below 200 C [15]. Therefore, researchers
from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Stuttgart developed
C-ber reinforced SiC (C/SiC resp. C/C-SiC) for brake applications
in the early 1990s [1,69]. This technology is a real spin off from
thermal protection systems of space craft to terrestrial applications and the composites can be efciently manufactured by the
liquid silicon inltration process (LSI). The ceramic material was
evaluated for high performance emergency brakes in elevators and
conveying systems and also for service brakes in passenger cars
and high speed trains [11]. At the beginning of this century, several

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: nico.langhof@uni-bayreuth.de (N. Langhof).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2016.04.040
0955-2219/ 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

automotive manufactures, like Porsche AG, Daimler AG and Audi

AG, introduced the ceramic brake discs to their sedan cars [911].
Nowadays, the counterparts of C/SiC friction materials are
still organic based materials, steel or grey cast iron. In order to
achieve higher power intensities, lower system masses and higher
area related energies, ceramic counterparts resp. full-ceramic friction systems are in the focus of current researches, e.g. [1222].
There are several favorable properties of such full-ceramic brakes
compared to conventional brakes. Their lower weight shows the
potential for more efcient lightweight cars. Furthermore, by the
application of full-ceramic friction materials, there are no health
and environmental problems expected, which can be caused, if
conventional brake pads were applied, that contains heavy metal
particles.
Carbon short ber bundles are the most cost efcient raw
material for C/SiC, but only few works dealing with this type of
reinforcement [6,15,23,24]. In the eld of aircraft brakes, selfmated C/SiC materials, which are based on 3D-reinforced C-ber
preforms, were studied [16,21,2530]. These CMC are developed
by less cost effective methods, e.g. by chemical vapor inltration
(CVI), followed by slurry inltration, PIP (Polymer Inltration and
Pyrolysis) and/or the LSI process. Results at speeds up to 25 m/s
and low braking pressures (1 MPa) show their promising tribological behavior [16,20,21,25,26,29,30]. Nevertheless, studies on
full-scale dynamometers, where high area related energies and

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Table 1
The constituents of the brake pads [42].
Disc material

Pads materials

C/SiC

Low Met

C/SiC SF

C/SiC SF 11Coke

Low Met reference

C-short bers LSI

C-short bers with coke

Metallic components (bers and particles from steel, brass, bronze, copper)

Amorphous C-bers
Amorphous C-matrix
SiC
Silicon
Porosity

Amorphous C-bers
Amoprhous C-matrix
Coke
SiC
Silicon
Porosity

Amorphous C-bers
Amorphous C-matrix
SiC
Silicon
Unknown
Porosity

Fillers (Barite, rubber, etc.)

Abrasives (alumina, silica)
Lubricants (graphite, suldes)
Binder (phenolic resin)
Unknown
Porosity

Table 2
Test matrix on the lab-scale test rig.
Speed Series (p = 2.44 N/mm2 )
Rotating Speed in m/s

Braking Time in s

3.4
17.4
42.6

2.7
2.7
2.7

Cycles
113
22
9

Friction energy in MJ

Power intensity in W/mm2

2
2
2

8.3
42.5
104

Pressure Series (vrot = 17.4 m/s)

Pressure in N/mm2
0.54
2.44

Braking Time in s

Cycles

Friction energy in MJ

Power intensity in W/mm2

12
2.7

22
22

2
2

9.4
42.5

power intensities (W/mm2 ) can be realized, are rarely found in literature [28,31]. Very few works are dealing with high speeds above
25 m/s [21,28,31,32]. Further investigations show the inuences of
silicon, silicon alloys and additives on the tribological properties.
The COFs decrease at higher speeds above 20 m/s and the wear rates
increases signicantly [17,18,21,3133,35,39,40]. SiO2 , derived by
the oxidation of Si and SiC, can be found on the frictional surfaces
above 400 C [20,21,28,32,41].
Within the current study, the tribological behavior of C-short
ber reinforced ceramics on a lab-scale and a full-scale test rig are
investigated. The chosen pad-on-disc setup consists of a harder,
which means a SiC-rich friction layer bearing C/SiC brake rotor
(diameter 380 mm), on softer less SiC- resp. coke containing C/SiC
brake pads. In order to enhance the tribological behavior of the
C/SiC materials, coke as a solid lubricant was added. Lower stiffnesses, obtained in mechanical tests, show the softening effect
of coke and the potential for a further improvement of the properties of the C-ber reinforced ceramic brake pads, compared to
conventional friction materials like Low Mets or Semi Mets.
The ceramic materials were studied at sliding speeds up to
42.6 m/s and braking pressures up to 8 MPa. Furthermore, the friction and wear mechanisms were discussed and summarized in a
preliminary model.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Ceramic pads
All C/SiC pad materials are reinforced by 6 mm C-short ber
bundles, which were supplied by Toho Tenax Europe GmbH. High
tensile bers with 12,000 bers per bundle (HT-12k) were selected
and mixed together with 50 vol.% of a powdered novolac resin,
which is fabricated by the Hexion Company. The ller petrol coke
(TIMREX PC 40 by TIMCAL) is acting as a solid lubricant and has a
grain size <80 m. Petrol coke can be regarded as graphite with a
minor distorted crystal structure. The applied amount of 11 vol.%

coke was mixed with the phenolic powder and C-ber bundles
subsequently.
Three types of pad materials were studied:

(1) C/SiC SF ceramics comprising C-short bers without ller, SiC,

Si and amorphous carbon
(2) C/SiC SF 11Coke ceramics of (1) with additional 11 vol.% coke
within the CFRP green body
(3) Low Met reference commercial available mixture of metallic
bers mainly consisting of particles (steel, bronze, brass, copper), solid lubricants (graphite, coke), hard particles (alumina,
silica) and phenolic resin acting as binder

The ceramic materials were manufactured by the liquid silicon

inltration process. The three step process consists of:

1. Green body manufacturing (mixing bers, llers and resin; warm

pressing up to 250 C) CFRP
2. Pyrolysis (transformation of the phenolic matrix into amorphous
carbon at temperatures above 900 C under inert conditions) porous C/C preform
3. Liquid silicon inltration (driven by capillary forces and the
good wetting behavior of Si on carbon at temperatures above
1420 C) C/SiC ceramic
The silicon for this process was supplied by Elkem AS (Silgrain
HQ, >99.7 wt.% Si). The components of the ceramic pads are summarized in (Table 1).
During the machining process of the ceramics, the material was
cut and the surface was grinded to a reproducible average surface
roughness of Sa = 1.3 m. 10 mm thick ceramic pads with a frictional surface of 400 mm2 were prepared (20 20 mm2 ), as well as
larger curved shape parts with 12,000 mm2 . Representative images
of the ceramic pads are shown in Figs. 1 and 3 .

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Fig. 1. Initial friction surfaces of C/SiC pads with 6 mm carbon short bers (400 mm2 ).

Table 3
Overview of the AK-Master test (SAE J2522); The sliding speed is calculated, regarding to the mean friction radius of the pads (r = 0.152 m).
No.

AK-Master Sections

Conditions

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Green Effectivness
Burnish
Characteristic Check
Speed-Pressure Sensitivity
Speed-Pressure Sensitivity
Speed-Pressure Sensitivity
Speed-Pressure Sensitivity
Speed-Pressure Sensitivity
Characteristic Check
Cold Braking
Motorway Braking
Characteristic Check
1st Fading
1st Recovery
Pressure Sensitivity
Temperature Sensitivity
Pressure Sensitivity
Characteristic Check
2nd Fading
Characteristic Check

30 bar; 30 stops, 10 3.7 m/s

1542 bar, 62 stops; 10 3.7 m/s
30 bar, 6 stops; 10 3.7 m/s
2080 bar, 8 stops; 5.1 0 m/s, 100 C
2080 bar, 8 stops; 10 5.1 m/s, 100 C
2080 bar, 8 stops; 15.1 10 m/s, 100 C
2080 bar, 8 stops; 20.1 16.3 m/s, 100 C
2080 bar, 8 stops; 24.6 21.4 m/s, 100 C
30 bar, 6 stops; 10 3.7 m/s
30 bar, 11.1 0 m/s
60 % decelaration, 2 stops: 12.3 0 m/s; 28.3 0 m/s
30 bar, 18 stops; 10 3.7 m/s
40% decelaration, 15 stops; 12.3 0.6 m/s
30 bar, 18 stops; 10 3.7 m/s
2080 bar, 8 stops; 10 3.7 m/s, 100 C
30 bar, 9 stops; 10 3.7 m/s, increasing Temp.
2080 bar, 8 stops; 10 3.7 m/s, 500 C
30 bar, 18 stops; 10 3.7 m/s
40% decelaration, 15 stops; 12.3 0.6 m/s
30 bar, 18 stops; 10 3.7 m/s

Fig. 2. Lab-scale dynamometer [33].

2.2. Ceramic rotors

Internal ventilated C/SiC rotors were selected as the counterparts during all tribological studies, fabricated by Brembo SGL
Carbon Ceramic Brakes Company. The ceramic rotors were newly
grounded before each test. Currently, these brake discs are available
for several passenger cars (diameter 380 mm, thickness 38 mm).
The rotor consists of a SiC-rich friction layer and C-ber rich core,
which ensures the mechanical strength and the damage tolerance.
The outer SiC-rich friction layer contains about 70 vol.% SiC; 15 vol.%
C-bers and 15 vol.% Si to enable a favorable tribological performance as well as a high oxidation and wear resistance [33].
2.3. Methods
The bulk density and the open porosity were determined by
the Archimedes method according to DIN EN 1389:2003. Optical microscopy (Zeiss Axiotech), 3D optical confocal microscopy
(Keyence VR-3000), scanning electron microscopy (JEOL JSM-6400)
and EDX-analysis were applied to study the microstructure and

the frictional surfaces. Additionally, the surface roughness of the

frictional surfaces was measured by the confocal microscopy (ISO
25178-2:2012). In order to compare the stiffness of the different full-ceramic pads, their compressive strengths were measured
according to DIN EN 658-2.
The tribological tests were conducted on a selfdesigned
dynamometer
(45 kW,
FNmax = 3000 N;
vmax = 2500 rpm; Mmax = 250 Nm, without inertia masses resp.
y wheels (Fig. 2) The test setup is illustrated in Fig. 2 [33].
The conditions during braking are summarized in Table 2. The
dependency of the frictional properties on the speed and pressure
were investigated within the speed resp. pressure series. The COF
and the temperatures on the surface of the rotor and on the backsides of the ceramic pads are recorded continuously.
All wear rates based on measurements after each series and
reveal the wear coefcient k in mm3 /Nm (wear volume wv in mm3 ;
normal force F; sliding distance s [34]).
wV
k = F s
(1)
N
Several braking cycles were conducted within each part of the
regarded series, e.g. 113 stops at 3.4 m/s with a braking pressure
of 2.44 N/mm2 . Between each two braking cycles, a break of 2 s
was introduced realize similar test conditions compared to the AKMaster (see below). The friction energy was kept constant at 2 MJ
for all test cycles. Thus, the braking time was change in dependence
on the rotation speed.
Ceramic brake pads with a surface area of 12,000 mm2 were prepared for the tests on the full-scale inertia dynamometer. The pad
geometry is illustrated in Fig. 3. The mass of a car can be simulated
by y wheels (108.3 kgm2 ) and different stopping conditions can
be realized. The corresponding test procedure is called AK-Master
test, a test for the characterization of the tribological behavior of
friction materials Table 3.

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N. Langhof et al. / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 36 (2016) 38233832

Table 4
Bulk density, open porosity and the composition of the applied pads, ns = not specied.
Bulk Density [g/cm3 ]

Open Porosity [%]

Composition of the C/SiC bulk material in vol.%

Disc material
C/SiC

2.45

ns

Friction layer: 70% SiC; 15% C; 15% Si

Pad materials
Low Met
C/SiC SF
C/SiC SF 11Coke

4.50
2.00
1.94

25.0
1.0
2.1

see Ref. [42]

64% C-bers and C-matrix; 23% SiC; 13% Si
73% C-bers; C-matrix and coke; 18.5% SiC; 8.5% Si

Fig. 3. (a) Geometry of the C/SiC ceramic brake pad (frictional surface = 12000 mm2 ); (b) experimental setup (brake disc and calliper) in the full-scale inertia dynamometer
(Audi AG).

Fig. 4. Microstructure of the ceramic pads (cross sections) before braking (optical microscope images); (a) C/SiC SF; (b) C/SiC SF 11Coke.

Fig. 5. Speed and pressure series on the lab-scale test rig; (a) Dependence of COF on the speed at constant pressure; (b) Dependence of COF on the pressure at constant
speed.

The AK-Master test contains high and low speed braking sections as well as different braking pressures. The COFs and the

temperature of the friction material can be measured constantly

during braking, similar to the lab-scale test rig. After the whole test,

N. Langhof et al. / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 36 (2016) 38233832

3827

Fig. 7. AK-Master test for Low Met reference on the ceramic disc; dotted lines: max.
and min. COF , straight line: mean value; highlighted: Section 8 and 11 (for detailed
test conditions, see Table 3).

Fig. 6. Wear rates after the pressure series (v = 17.4 m/s, p = 0.54 resp. 2.44 N/mm2 )
resp. the speed series (p = 2.44 N/mm2 ; v = 3.4; 17.4 and 42.6 m/s) for all brake pairs,
determined after each series, the speed resp. the pressure series.

the amount of wear can be determined by analyzing the thickness

changes in mm.
3. Results and discussion
A summary of the bulk densities and open porosities of the pad
materials are given in Table 4. The bulk density of C/SiC SF 11Coke
decreases from 2.00 g/cm3 to 1.94 g/cm3 and the porosity increases
slightly from 1 to 2.1% referred to C/SiC SF.
This is probably due to the fact, that these samples contains less
SiC and Si, but more carbon compared to C/SiC SF. Additionally,
the coke particles are akes and less compacted, compared to the
amorphous carbon matrix.
Besides of the coke ller, the lower Si-content of the C/SiC SF
11Coke material is very important to understand the tribological
behavior later on. Due to the addition of the coke ller, less phenolic
matrix was added in the CFRP body and less shrinkage occurred
during the pyrolysis. The C/C of C/C-SiC SF shows 20% open porosity,
the C/C-preform of C/C-SiC SF 11Coke only 9%. Due to the lower
porosity, fewer amounts of Si can be inltrated and transformed
into SiC during the nal liquid silicon inltration process (Fig. 4).
3.1. COF and wear rates of the lab-scale dynamometer samples
The results of the full-ceramic brakes on the lab-scale
dynamometer are shown in Fig. 5a and b. Ceramic pads with the
dimensions of 20 20 10 mm3 (length x width x thickness) were
tested on the ventilated C/SiC rotors (diameter = 380 mm).
The COF of both C/SiC materials show similar values between
0.2 and 0.7 (Fig. 5). During the friction test at 3.4 m/s, COFs between
0.63 and 0.64 were measured for both ceramic pads. The uctuations of the COFs for these test conditions are between 0.44 and
0.84. Only slight deviations between 0.40 and 0.44 were observed
for the reference material.
With increasing friction speed from 3.4 m/s to 42.6 m/s, the COF
of the ceramic pads decrease from about 0.60.24 for C/SiC SF resp.
0.28 for C/SiC SF 11Coke (Fig. 5a). The reference material shows a
stable COF. The COF of the ceramic materials are almost constant
between 0.4 and 0.44 at 17.4 m/s and different pressures (Fig. 5b).
Low COFs between 0.2 and 0.3 were determined for the Low Mets
under these loads.
The wear rates were determined after the whole pressure
resp. speed series. All wear rates after the pressure series
(v = 17.4 m/s, p = 0.54 resp. 2.44 N/mm2 ) are low and between
1.5 and 2.0 105 mm3 /J (Fig. 6). The lowest wear rate of
1.5 105 mm3 /J was measured for C/SiC SF 11Coke. The differences are more pronounced after the speed series (p = 2.44 N/mm2 ;

Fig. 8. AK-Master test for C/SiC SF on the ceramic disc; dotted lines: max. and min.
COF , straight line: mean value; highlighted: Section 8 and 11 (for detailed test
conditions, see Table 3).

Fig. 9. AK-Master test for C/SiC SF 11Coke materials on the ceramic disc; dotted
lines: max. and min. COF , straight line: mean value; highlighted: Section 8 and 11
(for detailed test conditions, see Table 3).

v = 3.4; 17.4 and 42.6 m/s). C/SiC SF shows the highest wear rates
with 13 105 mm3 /J and C/SiC SF 11Coke the lowest wear with
1.0 105 mm3 /J. Due to the addition of coke, the ceramic pads
becomes softer. It show 25% less stiffness compared to C/SiC SF.
Furthermore, coke particles are less brittle and more exible than
the other phases within the ceramic pads. Therefore, the real contact and the COF increases simultaneously with a decreasing wear
rate.
3.2. COFs and wear on a full-scale inertia
dynamometerAK-Master test
The tribological behaviors of the full-ceramic materials as well
as the Low Met reference were studied during the AK-Master tests.
COFs were measured continuously, as well as the temperatures of
the friction materials. The amount of wear was determined after
the tests by measuring the thickness changes. The results, obtained
in the AK-Master tests, show the consistent COF between 0.28 and
0.44 for the reference Low Met material on the ceramic rotor (Fig. 7).
Immediately, within the rst AK-Master section the full-ceramic
couples show one favorable property. The COF for this green effectiveness cycle is remarkably higher (0.45) compared to the Low
Met pads (0.3). The mean COF of the C/SiC SF material (0.39) is on
the same level compared to the state of the art Low Met material (Figs. 7 and 8). For the C/SiC 11Coke material, the mean COF
increases signicantly up to 0.45 (Fig. 9). The behavior is more balanced compared to C/SiC SF and on a higher COF level, independent
of the conditions within the AK-Master test sections. Furthermore,

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different, which are ve for the small pads and about 24 for the
larger pads. That mean, that the small pads exhibit more particles
close to the outer surface, which can be abraded or sheared off
more easily in comparison to the larger ceramic materials. Hence,
porous materials, like the Low Met reference degrade more and
show higher wear rates on the lab-scale test rig. The reliability of
the obtained results on a lab-scale test rig, rises with an increasing
of the thermomechanical stability of the selected friction materials.
3.4. Friction and wear mechanisms in the full-ceramic brake
systems

Fig. 10. Wear of the Low Met and both ceramic pads.

no thermal fading occurs during the regarding AK-Master sessions,

which shows the favorable thermal stability of the full-ceramic
brakes, compared with the organic binder containing Low Met pads.
Despite of this behavior, the consistency of the COF within each
test block is important. The deviations of the coefcient of friction
for C/SiC SF and C/SiC SF 11Coke are visible in the high speed and
high pressure Sections 8 and 11 (Figs. 8 and 9). Within these parts
of the AK-Master test, braking pressures up to 8 MPa and sliding
speeds up to 24.6 m/s were applied, accompanied with the highest temperatures during the AK-Master test (Table 5) The COF of
the full-ceramic brake systems, depends on the pressure between
Section 5 and 8, where the speed and the pressure are gradually
increased (Table 3). The second lowest COFs for the full-ceramic
brake systems can be found in the motorway Section 11 at the
highest driving speed 28.3 m/s.
In contrast to the studies on the lab-scale dynamometer, the
amount of wear of both ceramic materials is higher compared to
the reference Low Met (Fig. 10). The wear decreases signicantly
due to the addition of coke, but it is still 1/3 above the wear of the
Low Met pads. The reason for this observation might be found in
the different thermomechanical loads during the AK-Master test
compared with the lab-scale tests. This topic will be discussed in
the following part of this paper.
In summary, it was found, that the average COF of the C/SiC SF
11Coke is signicantly higher compared to the reference materials,
due to the addition of 11 vol.% coke. Furthermore, the soft-hard
approach is supported by the measured compressive stiffness of the
C/SiC SF 11Coke material, which is about 25% lower, compared to
the C/SiC SF. The soft coke particles enable an easier adaption on
the surface roughness of the rotor counterpart. That means higher
real contact areas and COFs, accompanied with less wear and less
COF variations within the AK-Master test.
3.3. Lab-scale vs. full-scale dynamometer
The above investigated ceramic friction materials and the reference Low Mets are compared in Table 5 with their results gained
from the lab-scale and the full-scale inertia dynamometer. In general, the COFs are similar. The temperatures on the lab-scale rig
are partially lower due to the smaller brake pads and lower brake
pressures, which results in a lower friction power. Therefore, the
different temperatures, the extents of expectable oxidation and
loads are most probable responsible for the higher wear rates of
the ceramic materials on the full-scale dynamometer.
Additionally, the sample shapes and sizes (400 mm2 and
12,000 mm2 ), the friction surface to circumference ratio are

In order to summarize and visualize the observed wear and friction mechanisms, the preliminary approach [31], can be extended
signicantly (Fig. 11). Due to the examination of the frictional
surfaces, the cross sections, the surface roughnesses and the
temperatures, we can identify several key mechanisms for the
full-ceramic brake systems. The focus was on the formation of a 3rdbody (friction layer resp. contact plateaus), which can be formed
between the ceramic disc (1st-body) and the ceramic brake materials (2nd-body). In general, the 3rd-body is required to enable stable
and high COFs in brake systems.
Following remarks, regarding the friction and wear mechanisms
of the full-ceramic brakes systems can be made:
No wear was detectable for the hard resp. SiC-rich C/SiC rotors.
A 3rd-body was found on the surface of C/SiC SF and C/SiC SF
11Coke (Fig. 12).
The 3rd-body covers a larger surface for the C/SiC SF 11Coke
material.
Due to the presence of free silicon in the full-ceramic friction
couple, an adhesion-abrasion mechanism can destroy the local
3rd-body, which can be observed by deep grooves on the C/SiC
SF material and the generation of high wear rates (Figs. 12 and 14).
The presence of coke and fewer silicon changes the observed wear
mechanisms for the C/SiC SF 11Coke pads.
The lower Si-content in C/SiC SF 11Coke prevents formation of
adhesive-abrasive wear spots/peaks and deep grooves and generated a higher contact area and COF.
The material gets softer as a bulk (lower stiffness) and the surface is able to trap wear particles due to coke as a friction modier.
More exible coke particles are able to increase the real contact
area during braking, accompanied with higher COFs, lower wear
rates and less COF uctuations.
3.5. Abrasion
Several hard and rough Si-SiC peaks on the disc surface (Fig. 13)
are responsible for the deep grooves on the surface of the C/SiC
SF materials (Figs. 12a and 14a). The deep grooves are no longer
detectable, if coke is added to the pad material (Figs. 12b and 14b).
The low content of silicon in the C/SiC SF 11Coke material prevents
the formation of the roughness peaks on the corresponding C/SiC
rotor. Hence, the lack of abrasive wear causes much lower wear
rates for C/SiC SF 11Coke compared to C/SiC SF.
The surface roughness of both ceramic pads are shown and analysed by confocal microscopy in Fig. 14 resp. Table 6 It can be
concluded, that the maximum roughness of both materials is similar, but the C/SiC SF 11Coke material shows spots resp. plateaus
with signicantly lower roughnesses (Table 6). Due to these many
contact plateaus the wear resistance of C/SiC SF 11Coke is higher
compared to C/SiC SF.
Furthermore, for the dense C/SiC SF material without coke, there
are no possibilities to prevent a three body abrasion according to Ref. [34], which means the abrasion, which is caused by
hard SiC wear particles between both frictional surfaces. Hence,

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3829

Fig. 11. Model which sums up the observed friction and wear mechanisms for the full-ceramic brake systems, C/SiC SF and C/SiC SF 11Coke.

Fig. 12. Frictional surfaces (SEM images, topography contrast); (a) C/SiC SF with partially deep grooves due to abrasion; (b) C/SiC SF 11Coke; SD = sliding direction.

Fig. 13. Frictional surface of the C/SiC rotor after braking on the lab-scale rig (counterpart: C/SiC SF); SD = sliding direction (Fig. 5a); (a) top view; back scattered SEM image;
(b) cross section (optical microscope) [33].

Fig. 14. Surface roughness/topography; areas denoted measured in Table 6 (a) C/SiC SF; (b) C/SiC SF 11Coke.

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N. Langhof et al. / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 36 (2016) 38233832

Table 5
Detailed comparison of the tribological tests on the lab-scale and the full-scale test rig; TDisc measured on the surface, TPads measured on the backside.
Lab-scale test rig

Full-scale inertia dynamometer

Pad type

COF

Wear rate k in 105 mm3 /J

TMaxDisc in C

TMaxPads in C

COF

Wear in mm

TMaxDisc in C

TMaxPads in C

Low Met Reference

C/SiC SF
C/SiC SF 11Coke

0.200.42
0.240.63
0.280.64

4.4
7.4
1.3

530
380
440

140
610
370

0.280.44
0.270.58
0.310.49

0.58
1.48
0.8

800
850
800

300
500
450

Table 6
Surface and prole roughness according to the areas in (Fig. 14), Sa resp. Ra = average roughness, Sp resp. Rp = max. peak height, Sv resp. Rv = max. valley depth.
Surface roughness and (StDev) in m C/SiC SF resp. C/SiC SF 11Coke as received (n = 5)
Sa = 1.3 (0.1)

Sp = 7.1 (0.9)

C/SiC SF braked (n = 3)

Sv = 10.3 (3.3)
C/SiC SF 11Coke braked (n = 3)

e.g.
Area 1

Sa
3.3

Sp
11.7

Sv
16.6

e.g.
Area 1

Sa
3.1

Sp
10.1

Sv
32.3

Area 2

3.5

18.8

18.5

Area 2

1.4

5.8

18.7

Area 3
Mean

4.8
3.9

14.6
15

28.3
21.1

Area 3
Mean

1
1.8

3.1
6.3

4.8
18.6

Prole (line) roughness in m after braking

C/SiC SF braked (n = 4)
e.g.
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Mean

C/SiC SF 11Coke braked (n = 4)

Ra
5.1
5.1
5.7
5.9
5.5

Rp
9.9
10.1
10.8
12.6
10.9

Rv
13.3
13.9
14.3
15.1
14.2

deep grooves evolve and the potential contact area, which could
enhances the friction forces, decreases. The coke containing material has the ability to avoid theses abrasion mechanisms, by
trapping these particles inside of the soft coke akes.

3.6. Adhesion
In conjunction with the abrasion, the adhesion has to be
discussed. Adhesion between the C/SiC rotor and C/SiC SF pad
accompanied by material transfer occurred due to the free silicon
on both frictional surfaces. Silicon welds together during friction
and can incorporate hard SiC wear particles (Fig. 13b). Speeds
above 20 m/s and temperatures above 400 C enable this observed
phenomenon, because of the brittle to ductile transition of silicon
[33,3638] and a presumably incorporation of the SiC wear debris.
Furthermore, the new evolved welding contacts start to transfer
Si from the C/SiC SF pads to the C/SiC rotor, where the silicon is
bonded stronger and the peaks continuously grow the longer a
brake test last. Due to the higher SiSiC content, the thermal conductivity of the rotor is signicantly higher (>20 W/mK) compared
to the pads (<10 W/mK). Therefore, after the brittle to ductile transition, the Si within the C/SiC SF pads gets softer and is transferable
more easily than from the colder opposite direction. The silicon
from the rotor is derived from the SiSiC friction layer. This friction
layer is formed during the siliconization and its microstructure is
similar to a monolithic SiSiC ceramic with only few C-bers. On
the one hand, the silicon matrix with this friction layer is homogenously distributed over the whole surface of the friction layer. On
the other hand, silicon in the pads is not so well distributed and can
be found in spots or small cracks resp. aggregates in the dimension
of 1050 m width surrounded by SiC and mainly carbon. Therefore, it is more realistic to assume, that silicon is transferred from
the pads towards the rotor. Lower forces are required to pull the
silicon out of the pads, compared to the silicon from the rotor. This
unfavorable mechanism, is the reason for the partially removed

e.g.
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Mean

Ra
1.8
1.3
1.8
1.8
1.7

Rp
3.9
4
6.4
4.1
4.6

Rv
5.8
3.5
4.6
7.9
5.5

resp. teared of 3rd-body from the surface of the C/SiC SF material

(Fig. 15a). Additionally, at 3.4 m/s the stick-slip effect was observed
with the C/SiC SF materials. Noises, vibrations and harshnesses
(NVH) occurred by the frequently transition between static and
dynamic friction at 3.4 m/s.
Low silicon contents and the solid lubricant coke on the friction surfaces prevent the predominance of the adhesion-abrasion
mechanism, the evolution of harshness peaks on the rotor and NVH
issues for the C/SiC SF 11Coke materials. We assume that only small
spots temporarily evolve for C/SiC SF 11Coke. They are immediately
abraded by the SiC of the opposing rotor. Furthermore, the author
has already conrmed that, no transfer resp. adhesion-abrasion
occurred, when silicon from the pad is extracted [33].
Signicantly more smooth and polished contact plateaus resp.
3rd-bodies can be detected on the surface of C/SiC SF 11Coke
(Fig. 15b).
3.7. Oxidation
The oxidation of carbon starts at about 400 C in air. Furthermore, the formation of SiO2 from the oxidation of Si and SiC is
possible due the signicantly higher temperature on contact area
of the frictional surfaces, which cant be determined during braking
[20,21,28,32,41]. The EDX analysis conrms the presence of oxygen
(Fig. 16). It is hard to detect, whether SiO2 occurs as a lubrication
lm or in local spots on the tribological surfaces of C/SiC SF and
C/SiC SF 11Coke. Further measurements are required, to conrm or
disconrm the statements in the literature.
3.8. Fatigue
The ceramic materials can be damaged partially by the cyclic
thermomechanical loadings during braking. This wear mechanism
is detectable by some cracks evolved after braking within the
microstructure (Fig. 17). CMC are C-ber reinforced and much less

N. Langhof et al. / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 36 (2016) 38233832

3831

Fig. 15. Frictional surfaces (SEM images, topography contrast); (a) C/SiC SF with partially removed friction layer due to adhesion; (b) C/SiC SF 11Coke; SD = sliding direction.

Fig. 16. EDX-analysis of the C/SiC disc surface indicate the presence of oxygen, besides of Si and C.

Fig. 17. Cross sections (optical microscope) after braking; (a) C/SiC SF; (b) C/SiC SF 11Coke.

brittle than monolithic ceramics. Nevertheless, the strain to failure

at room temperature is below 1% and the fracture toughness of Si,
C and SiC is below 5 MPam1/2 at room temperature as well [43].
Fatigues damages are also detected in a previous work [31] and
could be another factor in the explanation of the higher wear of
the ceramic materials compared to the Low Met reference on the
full-scale dynamometer.
4. Summary and conclusions
All brake pads within this study were tested on a full-scale CMC
brake rotor at conditions, which are relevant for automotive applications.
A lab-scale and a full-scale test rig were applied to study the
tribological behavior of these full-ceramic brake systems.
C/C-SiC SF materials show COFs between 0.24 and 0.63 and the
highest wear rates (7.4 105 mm3 /J) on the lab-scale and on the
full-scale test rig. Due to the residual silicon within the brake pads

and the rotor, adhesive-abrasive wear were observed and are crucial for the C/C-SiC SF materials.
Due to the addition of coke (C/SiC SF 11Coke) as a solid lubricant
the stiffness of the material decreases to 25%. Soft and exible
coke particles within C/SiC SF 11Coke increase the real contact
area, accompanied with higher COFs, lower wear rates and less
COF uctuations. The average COFs rises from 0.39 up to 0.45 (AKMaster) and the wear rate drops from 7.4 105 mm3 /J down to
1.3 105 mm3 /J for the lab-scale tests and during the AK-Master
from 1.48 to 0.8 mm thickness loss.
In order to make some conclusions we have to point out some
statements after this study.

The studied full-ceramic brake systems are promising materials

for high braking pressures and especially for speeds up to about
20 m/s.

3832

N. Langhof et al. / Journal of the European Ceramic Society 36 (2016) 38233832

Without any modications of the C/SiC SF materials, the competiveness of the full-ceramic approach is limited, compared the
organic references on the ceramic rotor.
The study shows, that it is favorable to combine stiff rotors with
softer ceramic pads (soft-hard approach)
By the addition of friction modiers, like coke, the friction and
wear behavior can be tailored to the desired application and performance.
The partially started replacement of metallic or organic based
friction materials can be continued and extended towards many
applications in the eld of high temperature light weight design.
Lab-scale test rigs are suitable for screening tests, if the applied
speeds and pressures are similar regarding to the application.
Larger sample sizes and higher thermomechanical loads are
responsible for to more reliable studies regarding to the application.
Acknowledgements
It is gratefully acknowledged that the study was supported
by the foundation Bayerische Forschungsstiftung (BFS) for the
joint research project Kostengnstige Kohlenstofffaserverstrkte
Keramiken AZ-710-06. Furthermore, thanks are given to, Mrs.
Ploshikhina (NMB GmbH Bayreuth, Germany) and Mr. Lauterbach
(CME, University of Bayreuth, Germany) for the support of the
microstructural studies and assistance in the design of the friction
and wear model.
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