International Conference on Metallurgical, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (ICMMME'2012) December 26-27, 2012 Dubai (UAE)

Temperature Analysis of
Automotive Modeling Parts
K. Shahril, Monarita Nordin and Aliff Shahriman Sulaiman

Abstract—Brake pad is steel backing plate

with friction material bound to the surface that faces the disk brake
rotor. The objectives of this study are to design new models of brake
pad, to analyze the temperature distribution of brake pad and to
compare between datum design of brake pad with new designs. An
automotive brake functions by converting the vehicle’s kinetic energy
into heat energy. The braking system used in automobiles is mainly
used for helping the driver control the deceleration of the vehicle. All
new designs were used asbestos as their material. Comparison
between datum design and design 2, shows that temperature
decreased about 9.73%. Design 3 was increased significantly about
319.17%, it is over than 3 times reflect to datum design. Design 4
also increased about 159.24% compared to datum design.
Keywords—Brake pad, temperature distribution, asbestos and
datum design.
I. OVERVIEW
T HIS research was conducted to study the temperature
distribution behavior of car brake pad. Brake pad is a
component of disk brake used in automotive and other
applications. Brake pad is steel backing plate with friction
material bound to the surface that faces the disk brake rotor. A
disc brake is usually made of cast iron or ceramic composites
(including carbon, Kevlar and silica) [1].
Brake pad usually made from asbestos as their reinforcing
fibers. The aim of the study is to compare datum design of
brake pad with new designs. The performance of these brake
pads were analyzed based on the result obtained.
II. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this study are to design new models of
brake pad, to analyze the temperature distribution of brake pad
and to compare between datum design of brake pad with new
designs.
III. SCOPE
The scopes of the project were to develop finite element
model of all brake pads model and simulation were carried out
using Abaqus software for the finite element models.
IV. LITERATURE REVIEW
An automotive brake functions by converting the vehicle’s
kinetic energy into heat energy. During braking, the heat
energy is first born by the two contact surfaces of the brake,
namely the brake disc and the brake pad (or drum and shoe in
the case of the drum brake), and is the transferred to the
contacting components brake such as calipers of the brake, as
well as the surroundings [2].
According to a research study by Frost & Sullivan, there is
likelihood that after 2010, the global automotive industry will
start using brake-by-wire systems instead of hydraulic braking
systems. The various technologies such as electro mechanical
braking system and the electronic wedges brake are soon going
to replace the older braking systems. With the help of these
brake-by-wire systems, automobile drivers will be having more
control on their vehicles particularly in case of sheer
emergency.
The braking system used in automobiles is mainly used for
helping the driver control the deceleration of the vehicle. It is
one of the crucial systems, which is especially designed for
decreasing the speed of the fast moving vehicle [3].
V. BRAKE COMPONENTS AND FUNCTION
A disc brake system usually consists of a brake disc rotor,
two brake pads and a caliper, as shown in Fig. 1. The
combination of these components allows the rotating whel to
experience severe braking in a short stopping distance. The
braking surface is the area on which the braking action of the
friction material takes place [4].
1
2
3

Fig. 1 Brake system components: 1) Brake pads, 2) Caliper,

K. Shahril, Monarita Nordin and Aliff Shahriman Sulaiman are with
3) Rotor [5].
Mechanical Section, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Spanish Institute,
Lot 13-1,6 Kulim Hi-Tech Park, 09000 Kulim, Kedah. Email:
khairuls@msi.unikl.edu.my

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 International Conference on Metallurgical, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (ICMMME'2012) December 26-27, 2012 Dubai (UAE)

• Analysis Modules
• Preprocessing Module
• Post processing Module

IX. PROCEDURE FOR ABAQUS

Static analysis is used to determine the displacements
stresses, stains and forces in structures or components due to
loads that do not induce significant inertia and damping
effects. Steady loading in response conditions are assumed.
The kinds of loading that can be applied in a static analysis
Fig. 2 Car Brake Pad. include externally applied forces and pressures, steady state
inertial forces such as gravity or rotational velocity imposed
(non-zero) displacements, temperatures (for thermal strain).
VI. BRAKE PAD Fig. 3 shows boundary condition for brake pads.
The gradual phasing-out of asbestos in automotive brake
friction materials in many parts of the world has sparked the
onset of extensive research and development into safer
alternatives, as shown in Fig. 2. As a result, the brake friction
industry has seen the birth of different brake pads and shoes in
the past decade, each with their own unique composition, yet
performing the very same task and claiming to be better than
others [2].
Brake pads convert kinetic energy of the car to the thermal
energy by friction. When a brake pad is heated by contact with
a rotor, it transfer small amounts of friction material to the
disc, turning it dull grey. Brake pad and disc stick to each
other to provide friction to stop vehicle. A characteristic of a
good brake is maintaining a sufficiently high friction
coefficient with the brake disc.
It is also must not decompose or breakdown in such a way Fig. 3 Boundary Condition for Brake Pads.
that the friction coefficient with the brake disc is compromised
at high temperatures. Brake pads must exhibit a stable and
consistent friction coefficient with the brake disc [6]. X. MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Most brake pads are manufactured from asbestos, semi

VII. MAIN COMPONENTS OF BRAKE PADS metallic and ceramics material. Since the 1970s, asbestos had
gained widespread acknowledgement as a carcinogen although
There are four main components of brake pad. First,
the introduction of the asbestos ban in the United States only
reinforcing fibers; which provide mechanical strength to the
came about in1989. All forms of asbestos are carcinogenic [8].
friction material. Second are binders which maintain brake pad
Material properties as shown in Table 1.
structural integrity under thermal and mechanical stress. The
third component is fillers which improving manufacturability TABLE I
as well as reduces overall cost of the brake pad. Lastly, MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF ASBESTOS
frictional additives; component added to brake friction
material in order to modify the friction coefficient and wear
rates [6].

VIII. ABAQUS/CAE
Abaqus is a powerful finite element software package. It is
used in many different engineering fields throughout the
world. Abaqus performs static and/or dynamic analysis and
simulation on structures. It can deal with bodies with various
loads, temperatures, contacts, impacts, and other
environmental conditions. Abaqus is developed and supported
by Hibbitt, Karlsson & Sorensen, Inc. (HKS). Abaqus includes
four functional components [7]:
XI. DATA COLLECTION
All models analyzed in solid discs model type, which
allows the models to use coarser meshes than would be
required to model the detail of a typical disc brake that had
complicated geometrical features such as cooling ducts and
bolt holes. The geometry of the disc had been simplified by
making it symmetrical about a plane normal to the axis.

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 International Conference on Metallurgical, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (ICMMME'2012) December 26-27, 2012 Dubai (UAE)

Therefore, only half of the disc and one brake pad was
modeled, and symmetry boundary conditions was applied.The
dimensions of the model were taken from a Satria Neo car.
The disc had a thicker friction ring connected to a conical
section that, in turn, connects to an inner hub. The inner radius
of the friction ring was 100.0 mm, the outer radius was
135.0 mm, and it was 10.0 mm thick.
The conical section was 32.5 mm deep and 5.0 mm thick.
The hub had an inner radius of 60.0 mm, an outer radius of
80.0 mm, and was 5.0 mm thick. The pad was 20.0 mm thick
and initially cover the entire friction ring surface. There ware Fig.6 Result for Design 2 (New Design).
six elements through the thickness of the friction ring and four
elements through the thickness of each of the pads. The mesh
was somewhat coarse but was optimized by using thinner
elements near the surfaces of the disc and pads where contact
occurs for better resolution of the thermal gradients in these
areas.
The pad and disc of the three-dimensional in
Abaqus/Standard. The contact and friction between the pad
and the disc were modeled by contact pairs between surfaces
defined on the element faces in the contact region. The
elements on the contact sides were thinner since they will be in
the areas of higher thermal gradients. There were 36 elements
in the circumferential direction of the disc.
Fig.7 Result for Design 3 (New Design).
XII. RESULT

The new design had been created to compare the Node

Temperature (NT) than the datum design. All new designs
were used Asbestos as their material. The pressure constant is
about 150 Pa. The time starts at 0.01 to 0.015 sec. For the all
new design, design 3 and design 6 are using the dimension (85
mm-90 mm). Design 5 are about ½ from the datum dimension.
Design 1 is the datum design. Design 2 has a shape at
bottom, and the surface of the design 2 also bigger than others.
Design 3 have a chamfer at the side of the brake pad. Design 4
are same from the datum design but the shape at the design 4 is
different and have chamfer at the side of the brake pad.
Fig.8 Result for Design 4 (New Design).

From the Figure 5,6,7 and 8, designs 2 was chosen

(67.90°C) because design 2 had a lower “high temperature”
compared than other brake pad design. Design 2 had been
choose because the surface contact between the brake pad and
the brake disc had the less friction value per unit area. The
surfaces at the brake pad of design 2 also had a big area
compared to others design.

Fig.5 Result for Design 1 (Datum Design). Design 3 had high temperature (315.3°C) because the area of
the brake pad is about 50 mm which is half from datum design.
Temperatue for design 4 was (195°C) because area of the
brake pad surface was reduce.

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 International Conference on Metallurgical, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (ICMMME'2012) December 26-27, 2012 Dubai (UAE)

TABLE II brake pad models. The parts and assembly model were
COMPARISON BETWEEN DATUM AND 4 NEW DESIGN WITH HIGH
developed by using Abaqus software package. Current work is
AND LOW TEMPERATURE
not yet validated because there is no equipment available to
obtain experimental result. The author recommends building a
HIGH LOW test rig for real braking system to study the heat dissipation
DESIGN RANGE
TEMPERATURE TEMPERATURE experimentally so that the analysis result obtained from finite
element software package can be validated.
Design 1 (75.22°C) (0°C) (75.22°C)
(Datum
Design) XV. REFERENCES
[1] http://sportsbrakediscs.com/, Retrieve online on 15th August 2010.
Design 2 (67.90°C) (0°C) (67.90°C) [2] D Chan & G W Stachowiak. Review of automotive brake friction
(New materials. School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western
Design) Australia, Crawley, Australia, 2004.
[3] http://www.cresreunion.org/brake-by-wire-promises-to-be-the-brake-
system-of-the-future, (Frost and Sullivan), Retrieve online on 15th
August 2010.
Design 3 (315.3°C) (0°C) (315.3°C)
[4] http://hubpages.com/hub/Brake-Components-and-functions, Retrieve
(New
online on 9th August 2010.
Design)
[5] http://www.cdxetextbook.com/images/disc_01.jpg, Retrieve online on 9th
August 2010.
[6] Eriksson, M., Bergman, F. and Jacobson, S. Surface characterization of
Design 4 (195°C) (0°C) (195°C)
brake pads after running under silent and squealing conditions. Wear,
(New
1999, 232, 163–167.
Design)
[7] ABAQUS (2004a) ABAQUS Version 6.5 Manual, Hibbit, Karlsson &
Sorensen, Inc.
[8] Joseph LaDou, Philip Landrigan, John III, Vito Foa, Arthur Frank and the
Collegium Ramazzini Call for an international ban on asbestos.
XIII. DISCUSSION Environ. Res., May 2000, 83(1), 79–81.

Comparison between datum design and design 2, shows

that temperature decreased about 9.73%. Design 3 was
increased significantly about 319.17%, it is over than 3 times
reflect to datum design. Design 4 also increased about
159.24% compared to datum design, as shown in Table 2.
Related back with the theory that when heat transfer is
constant, area is inverse relationship with the temperature.
From the observation, design 2 had better temperature
distribution due to largest area compare to others, as shown in
Table 3.

TABLE III
PERCENTAGE OF TEMPERATURE RISE OF NEW DESIGNS REFLECT
TO DATUM DESIGN

NEW DESIGN TEMPERATURE RISE (%)

Design 2 9.73 (Decreased)

Design 3 319.17 (Increased)

Design 4 159.24 (Increased)

XIV. CONCLUSION

From the completed study, the objectives of the study have

been achieved by completing the analysis using the Abaqus
software. The finite element model is developed by creating

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