Review Article

Proc IMechE Part J:

J Engineering Tribology
Tribological performance 0(0) 1–13
! IMechE 2018

characterization of brake friction Reprints and permissions:

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materials: What test? What DOI: 10.1177/1350650118764167

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coefficient of friction?

Mohamed Kchaou1, Amira Sellami1, Jamal Fajoui2, Recai Kus3,

Riadh Elleuch1 and Frédéric Jacquemin2

Abstract
This article describes and explains the tribological tests and methods for the evaluation of the performance of the brake
friction materials. It starts by discussing the particularities of these materials and the variation of characterization tests,
which can experimentally simulate many aspects of brake situation but with a large field of tribo-test, from standard to
specific protocol. Examples of preparation, procedures, instrumentation, and analysis results for the tribological aspect
testing ranging from the scale of vehicle braking performance (by methods including inertia dynamometers, Krauss
testing, friction assessment screening test, and Chase testing) to simplified test using reduced-scale prototypes for
small-sample friction, are explained. A particular attention is attributed to the discussion of the viability of the friction
coefficient report in relation to the material properties and brake compound performance. At the end of this article, the
guarantee of the performance output or ranking evaluated by such experimental methods is discussed.

Keywords
Friction composite material, performance tests, coefficient of friction, experimental rigs

Date received: 2 December 2017; accepted: 13 February 2018

performance tests concentrate on the pad service effi-

Introduction
The brake performance of a vehicle is primarily deter-
mined by the tribological properties of the friction
couple of the brake system (disc (or drum) and pad
friction material).1,2 Basically, required performances
are summarized on a relatively higher and stable fric-
tion level at wide range of braking conditions, i.e.
temperature, humidity, third body established in the
interface pad-disc, external road particle, etc.3–5
Safety requirements, long life of the brake parts,
and high comfort (especially dynamic and acoustic
aspects) are not lacking interest.6–8 To develop
brake pads with a maximum of performances, full-
vehicle road and laboratory-scale testing under differ-
ent loading, sliding speed, temperature, and pressure
are requested by manufacturers and researchers.9
In fact, the innovation in the brake pad design
required numerous test methods based on laboratory
developments and in service control, ranging from
‘‘small coupon rub tests’’ to ‘‘full-sized vehicle, on-
road tests’’. Characterization tests are the most used
tests to study new formulation of brake pads based
on experimental and empirical approach while
ciency, i.e. fading and recovery behaviors at different
braking situations (urgency, accumulative, and decel-
eration braking).9 In fact, for the friction material, the
fade, i.e. effectiveness decrease at elevated tempera-
ture, and the recovery, i.e. return to acceptable
levels of friction at lower temperature after braking
application, are influenced by many parameters and
braking conditions involving friction materials prop-
erties, brake system technology, and braking solicita-
tion (particularly mechanical, thermal, and tribological
solicitations).10,11 These parameters act on synergy and
increases the complexity of the study.12,13 As a
1
Université de Sfax, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, LASEM, Sfax,
Tunisia
2
GeM – Institut de Recherche en Génie Civil et Mécanique, Université
de Nantes – Centrale Nantes – CNRS UMR, Saint-Nazaire, France
3
Faculty of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Selcuk
University, Konya, Turkey
Corresponding author:
Mohamed Kchaou, Université de Sfax, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de
Sfax, LASEM, BP No. 153, 3013 Sfax, Tunisia.
Email: kchaou.mohamed@yahoo.fr
2 Proc IMechE Part J: J Engineering Tribology 0(0)
consequence, the choice of adequate test parameters and
conditions, experimental rig, and controlled data is not
evident and interrogates several questions about the
meaning of the representative results, particularly the
coefficient of friction.14 In fact, the investigation on
the friction characteristics of the brake materials is
well underway in literature. However, no reflections
about the viability of such characterization in relation
to the adequacy of the experimental protocol have been
reported. In this paper, we reported the performance
and characterization tests used to qualify friction mater-
ials and discussed the challenge, since no equipment
seems to be able to perform all the required tests.
A particular attention is given to the different friction
coefficients defined and used by researchers to study the
friction material performance. We conclude this
paper by our tribological team’s characterization of a
nonasbestos organic friction material in relation to the
molding process parameters.
Particularities of the friction
composite materials
Friction materials are commonly composites with
complex formulations comprising multiple constitu-
ents (about 10 and up to 30 ingredients), which are
different in nature, shape, size and morphology, and
interact on synergies to obtain high temperature sta-
bility, high strength, improvement of frictional sta-
bility, high thermal conductivity, and oxidation and
wear resistances.4 These brake performances are not
only affected by the selection of the formulation, but
also by the manufacturing process and parameters,
which are considered as a second source of hetero-
geneity.15 Besides, it was clarified by many authors
that the friction material behavior i.e. mechanical,
tribological, vibro-acoustical behaviors, depends
not only on the global characteristics of the brake
system but also especially on the local evolution of
the contact in terms of dynamical behavior of the
pad, heating concentration and evolution on the
disc, sliding accommodation, friction wear mechan-
isms, etc.2,3,5,12 Therefore, the study of the friction
material performance requires investigation at vari-
ous scales, considering the effect of its heterogeneous
microstructure and its anisotropy with regard to syn-
ergy activated between solicitations and material
properties.16
Standard test of performance
Many standard tests are used by researchers and
manufacturers to study the friction material perform-
ance, particularly:9
– J Standards or Recommended Practices from the
Society of Automotive Engineers Procedures - SAE
(examples: J 1802 test procedure for drum brake
linings, J 886 laboratory-scale for determining
lining friction, J 2430 multi-stage dynamometer
test for disc brakes),
– Economic Commission for Europe regulation
(ECE R-90),
– Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS)
from the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA),
– International Standards from the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Tribological performance analysis
Definition of the required modes of performance
Performance testing of the friction materials is gener-
ally related to the study of fading and recovery behav-
ior.17 As the fade characterizes the loss in braking
effectiveness at elevated temperatures, Anderson18
has classified fade performance modes as thermal,
delayed, blister, flash, and contamination fades, as
defined below:
– Delayed fade: Specific phenomenon that occurs
well after a period of hand brake usage and usually
with no warning signs. During the fade recovery,
brake effectiveness may drop unexpectedly, causing
a temporary, but pronounced increase of brake
pedal force requirement. Therefore, delayed fade
is insidious in that it is unexpected.
– Blister fade: It is shown as a near-surface blistering
resulting in a rapid and brief loss of brake effect-
iveness. It is associated with the reactivity of vola-
tile materials induced by manufacturing and
attached to the friction material, when they are
not released by the end of the burnish process,
and able to cause high internal gas pressures
upon rapid heating.
– Flash fade: It occurs only at very high brake power
levels, usually at very high speeds.
– Contamination fade: It is induced by the gener-
ation of elasto-hydrodynamic fluid film from
water, oil, or a combination of these, which react
on the surface of the brake lining and can make a
bearing from a brake.
Therefore, as performance test, we can quote the
following tests:19–21
Fade test. The test consists of the application of high
energy conditions of friction at very short intervals for
the speed and high presser level to thermally solicit the
friction material. As a result, the graph of temperature
vs. coefficient of friction evolution is drawn and the
fade behavior is deduced.
Residual stop test. The residual stop test took place
immediately after fade test. The coefficient of friction
after the hot performance is deduced and percentage
fades are given.
Kchaou et al.
Recovery test. Recovery, which is carried out immedi-
ately after residual stop test, describes the return of
the same pad to acceptable friction level at lower
temperatures. It is generally tested at the speed of
120 to 60 km/h.
Post recovery test. Post recovery test is generally per-
formed immediately and at the same conditions of
the recovery test to give the performance after the
recovery of the coefficient of friction. The percentage
recovery is given.
Friction performance parameters
The coefficient of friction (COF) is considered to be
the most important characteristic of friction mater-
ials, which qualify the braking safety of any vehi-
cle.22,23 This coefficient is sensitive to the operating
conditions such as sliding speed, braking pressure,
humidity, etc. For composite friction materials, it
was reported that temperature is the most influential
parameter on the COF when the interfacial thermo-
mechanical behavior is affected by friction heating
during different kinds of braking, associated with
the increase in the temperature.24 Researchers used
many friction coefficient parameters to qualify the
friction level of the friction materials. The most com-
monly used parameters are:23–26
– -Minimum (min): this is the lowest COF in all
the studied modes (cold, fade, and recovery).
– -Maximum (max): this is the highest COF in all
the three modes.
– Performance : this is an average COF considered
between N and N/2 braking operation (N is the
total number of brake applications).
– Fade : minimum coefficient of friction for fade
mode (measured after 270  C).
%Fade : ðPerformance   fadeÞ=Performance   100
ð1Þ
– Recovery : average coefficient of friction in the
recovery mode, measured after 100  C.
%Recovery : Recovery =Performance   100
ð2Þ
– Friction variation
ðÞ ¼ max  min ð3Þ
Full-scale performance test rigs and
experimentation
As described in the introduction part of this article,
full-scale and reduced-scale tests are used to study the
performance of the friction materials. However, as the
3
usage of a brake lining in the vehicle scale under
these tests required sophistical equipment and a long
duration of test in-service, the test sample geometry is
simplified with an adequate representative elementary
volume (REV). One of the primary aims of the brake
materials reduced-scale testing is to quantify the fric-
tion coefficient as a function of pad pressure, sliding
velocity, and temperature under conditions equivalent
to the real brake systems. Therefore, it is critical
to maintain these parameters in ‘‘one-to-one’’
relationship between the full-scale and reduced-scale
testing. This means that the nominal values of these
parameters remain the same in both types of testing
systems. In this section, we distinguish full-scale per-
formance tests (carried out using different rigs and
machines) to reduced-scale tests (mostly achieved on
pin or pad-on-disc tribometer).
Dynamometer-based friction material rig. Dynamometer-
based friction material rig is used typically to apply
a series of complex test sequence to characterize the
braking performance (Figure 1) (burnishing, fade,
fade recovery, etc.). As concluded by Wu et al.27
and Swarbric and Wu28 in their studies, the clarifica-
tion acquired from braking tests on a reduced-scale
dynamometer is significant enough in supporting the
understanding of the testing vehicle results. To match
the requirements of modern fast moving vehicles and
the continuous evolution of the vehicle comfort, full-
scale inertia dynamometer testing is very essential.29
Since such facility is generally available with indus-
tries, the number of research papers on the evaluation
of materials in this respect is limited. Many reduced-
scale dynamometer are developed for different topics
of study of brake friction materials.30–32 Parc et al.3
studied the influence of steel fibers on the tribological
behavior of a brake lining material using an inertial
brake dynamometer (the experimental steps, summar-
ized in Table 1, consist of a burnish stops, stops
test, short drag, and extended drag). Attention was
particularly focused on the stick-slip phenomenon in
relation to the steel fiber percentage. They have
reported that the friction coefficient of the nonsteel
friction material was not strongly affected by the
Table 1. Test procedure from El-Tayeb and Liew.3
1. Burnish stops: initial brake temperature ¼ 100  C, deceler-
ation ¼ 0.35 g, initial speed ¼ 60 km/h, number of
applications ¼ 200
2. Stop tests: initial brake temperature ¼ 50  C, 100  C, 150  C,
200  C, 250  C, applied pressure ¼ 3.75 MPa, initial
speed ¼ 100 km/h, number of applications ¼ 5
3. Short drag: initial brake temperature ¼ 250  C,
speed ¼ 10 km/h  100 km/h (10 km/h interval), number of
applications ¼ 9
4. Extended drag: initial brake temperature ¼ 100  C,
torque ¼ 110 kgfcm, speed ¼ 70 km/h, duration ¼ 4 min
4 Proc IMechE Part J: J Engineering Tribology 0(0)
sliding speed and the stick-slip phenomenon of the low-
steel friction material was pronounced at slow sliding
speeds. Gweon et al.33 studied friction and vibration
behaviors of brake friction materials containing short
Table 2. The test procedures used for burnishing and the
dynamical behavior test with a one-fifth-scale brake
dynamometer.33
2
1. Burnishing: speed ¼ 70 km/h, pressure ¼ 60 kgf/cm , Initial
brake temperature ¼ 110  C Repeated 50  8 times in a
constant pressure, Drag velocity ¼ 0.1–30.0 mm/s, Line
pressure ¼ 10, 20, 40, 60 kg f/cm2, Initial brake tempera-
ture ¼ 25–27  C
2. Stick–slip test: humidity ¼ AH 5.93–7.74 g/m3 (RH 23–30%)
Table 3. Dynamometer test procedure.34
1. Burnish: 200 stops, initial brake temperature ¼ 100  C,
speed ¼ 80 km/h, deceleration ¼ 0.35 g
2. Pressure sensitive: initial brake temperature ¼ 100  C,
speed ¼ 80 km/h, P ¼ 10,20,30,40,50 kgf/cm2
3. Friction instability: initial brake temperature ¼ 100  C,
speed ¼ 100 km/h, deceleration ¼ 0.4 g
4. Wear: 1000 stops, initial brake temperature ¼ 100  C,
speed ¼ 100 km/h, deceleration ¼ 0.3 g
Figure 1. (a) Reduced-scale brake dynamometer with (b) disc and (c) 2 pads.30
Figure 2. Chase-type friction machine.10
glass fibers. A one-fifth-scale brake dynamometer was
used according to the test procedure summarized in
Table 2. Jan et al.34 experimented four tribological
test procedures to study the friction effectiveness of
C/C-SiC brake discs using a scale brake dynamometer
(Table 3). Particular attention was given to the friction
level and wear evolutions under different conditions.
Chase testing. Many researchers used Chase-type
friction machine for friction and wear study of auto-
motive brake lining material (Figure 2).10,11
Arjmand’s team has developed a chase-type friction
machine;11 the test stages comprised three sequences
composed of preliminary, thermal, and complemen-
tary steps. Preliminary and complementary steps
were conducted at constant temperature of 150  C
for 10 braking cycles with constant interval of 10 s
application (braking) and 10 s release (no braking).
During the thermal step, which was initiated upon
completion of the preliminary step, continuous brak-
ing was applied and the temperature of the drum was
allowed to increase. Using this protocol, average
value of COF in both preliminary and complementary
as well as variation of COF with temperature during
the thermal stage were characterized (Figure 3).
Ozturk et al.35 studied the effect of resin type and
fiber length on the mechanical properties and friction
characteristics of automotive brake materials using a
Kchaou et al. 5

Figure 3. COF and temperature evolution curves under preliminary, thermal, and complementary stages.11

Table 4. Chase-type test procedure from Ozturk and Ozturk.35

Temperature ( C) On time Off time

No. of
Block Speed (r/min) Min Max Increment Load (N) min s min s applications

Burnish 308 – 93 – 450 20 – – – 1

Reset 205 82 93 – 230 5 – – – 1
Baseline-I 411 82 104 – 670 – 10 – 20 20
Fade-I 411 82 289 28 670 10 – – – 1
Recovery-I 411 261 93 56 670 – 10 – – 1
Wear 411 193 204 – 670 – 20 – 10 100
Fade-II 411 82 345 28 670 10 – – – 1
Recovery-II 411 317 93 56 670 – 10 – – 1
Baseline-II 411 82 104 – 670 – 10 – 20 20

Chase-type friction tester. Performance test condi-
tions are summarized in Table 4. The COF showed
a good correlation with the wear resistance of the fric-
tion composites. However, no clear correlation with
the mechanical and tribological properties of the fric-
tion composites was identified.
Krauss testing. A Krauss-type friction machine is also
widely used to measure the wear rate and the COF of
brake composite material. Typical protocol consists
of the application of burnish followed by a constant
interval test mode (fade test) or a high temperature
wear test mode.24 Table 5 shows an example of the
experimental protocol. Assif36 have used a Krauss-
type RWDC 100C (450 V/50 Hz) machine for
tribo-evaluation of aluminum-based metal matrix
composites (ABMMC) used for heavy duty vehicles
brake pad applications carried at a temperature range
of 40–200  C. The same was used by Cho et al.37 to
simulate intermittent brake applications at downhill
Table 5. Experimental test procedures from Shin et al.24
Burnishing: initial brake temperature ¼ 25  C, sliding speed ¼
3 m/s, pressure ¼ 0.7 MPa, application duration ¼ 300 s,
2 times
2. Fading: initial brake temperature ¼ 100  C, sliding speed ¼
4.0 m/s, pressure ¼ 1.0 MPa, application duration ¼ 600 s
(50 s drag—10 s interval, 10 times)
3. High temperature wear test: constant tested temperature ¼
350  C, sliding speed ¼ 1.2–4.2 m/s, pressure ¼ 0.7 MPa,
sliding distance ¼ 25 km
to slowdown a vehicle in order to study the effect of
potassium titanate on high-temperature friction sta-
bility. Friction and wear of the brake pad were exam-
ined during the extended drag situation at high
temperatures and not intended for normal stops in
the city traffic situation (Figure 4). Lee et al.38 used
a constant interval test (CIT) to evaluate the effect of
6 Proc IMechE Part J: J Engineering Tribology 0(0)

Figure 4. Examination of friction coefficient during drag situation at high temperatures, in relation to sliding time: (a) whisker;
(b) platelet; (c) splinter.37

antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3) on stick-slip propensity of

the friction materials using a Krauss-type tribometer.
Kim and Jang39 studied the fade and wear behavior
of the friction composite material reinforced with
chopped glass fibers over different temperature
ranges maintained at constant pressure and velocity.

Friction assessment screening test. Fast assessment

screening test (FAST) is considered as a quality con-
trol test for screening brake and clutch friction mater-
ial (effectiveness, fade, recovery, speed sensitivity, and
wear characteristics). Teo et al.40 studied carbon–
carbon composites friction material. By conducting
friction tests using FAST machine (Figure 5), they
noticed a decrease in the friction level and wear rate
when the temperature increased to 950  C. They
attributed this behavior to the oxidation effect and
the chemisorption of impurities to form lubricating
film. Philip et al.41 applied an experimental protocol
of severe conditions on brake lining materials, consist-
ing of a succession of (i) 10 instrument check stops (ii)
effectiveness testing, (iii) burnishing, (iv) fade test, (v)
recovery test, and (vi) 600  C and 800  C wear test.
The purpose was to qualify the friction stability
under these different stages of service (Figure 6). In
Figure 5. The friction assessment screening test (FAST)
machine.40
their study on the effect of using FAST machine,
Muzathik et al.42 tried to control brake performance
of aluminum–boron–carbide friction material. No evi-
dence of fade with temperature increases was reported
since this ceramic friction material has high toughness
and thermal conductivity relative to other ceramics.
Reducing scale tribo-testing
Laboratory-scale tribo-testing protocols commonly
use constant speed and load (force or torque)
Kchaou et al.
Figure 6. Friction coefficient evolution under different braking conditions.41
though pin-on-disc or pad-on-disc configurations
were used for comprehensive studies of the friction
material behaviors and properties.43 In fact, these
techniques allow the measurement of friction and
wear levels when a disc rubs facing to a pin, providing
valuable information on the tribological characteris-
tics of the brake system. According to the scale
theory, the environment conditions and friction solici-
tations are defined based on a similitude approach
between full- and reduced-scale machines (sliding
velocity, density of energy dissipated in the pads,
deceleration, and braking stop time).44 In fact, as it
is difficult to reproduce by sliding friction a realistic
full-scale thermal loading using a reduced-scale rig,
compromises between thermal, mechanical, and tribo-
logical aspects are needed.45 Experimental parameters
are defined with respect to scale shifting and simili-
tude rules with regard to rise of temperatures and heat
transfer between pad and disc, allowing sameness at
reduced-scale braking situations observed at full vehi-
cle scale. Otherwise, the choice of shape and size of
pad and disc used for these tests should lead to stres-
ses equivalent to those in full-scale machine, and be
sufficient toward the heterogeneity of the microstruc-
ture and the phenomena of loadbearing localization.46
By exploitation of the wide range of parameters vary-
ing with the tribometer, the sensitivity of the friction
materials to chosen brake situations are discussed,
particularly, the temperature, pressure, and sliding
velocity influences on the friction coefficient and its sta-
bility, third body establishment, effect of ingredient size
or nature on the friction level, etc., Complementary tests
are useful to study braking safety and comfort of
automobiles.
Effect of solicitation conditions. The study of the solicita-
tion conditions effect consists of the characterization
of the sensitivity of friction material to the loading,
sliding speed, duration, effective pressure, etc. Yin
et al.13 attributed the friction coefficient sensitivity
7
to the increase of the braking pressure and sliding
velocity when there is rise in the temperature by fric-
tion sliding. They concluded that when automobile is
moving with a high velocity, it is not reliable to exe-
cute an emergency braking only by raising the braking
pressure. A small-scale tribo-testing brake pad disc
machine was used by EL-Tayeb and Liew3 to conduct
tribo-tests under dry and wet conditions. The aim was
to study the effect of continuous braking at constant
sliding speeds and contact pressures on friction and
wear characteristics of composites brake materials
tested against gray cast iron (GCI) disc. The coeffi-
cient friction () and sliding velocity (v) relationship
was established and discussed in relation to the steel
fibers–GCI counter disc interaction. Zhu et al.47 and
Shi et al.48 had respectively elucidated the tribological
performance of the asbestos and non-asbestos brake
shoe of mine hoister by varying load, sliding speed,
duration, effective pressure parameters to test friction
materials sensitivities with regard to the operating
parameters.
Effect of environmental conditions. Humidity and tem-
perature are the environmental parameters controlled
by the study of the behavior and properties of the
friction materials. Blau and McLaughlin49 investi-
gated the effect of the presence of water films at the
interface friction material pad–GCI disc on the fric-
tion behavior. It was reported that, under water
spray conditions, the friction coefficient was inversely
proportional to the square of the sliding speed.
Hydrodynamic effects on the specificity of the transfer
film on the cast iron surface were discussed when the
sliding speed was increased. Bian and Wu50 examined
the friction performance of an organic pad rubbing
face to carbon and silicon carbide ceramic discs in air
and water spray conditions. They particularly
revealed a lower friction coefficient down 0.1 under
humid environment for both brake friction materials.
Lee et al.51,52 investigated the automotive creep groan
8 Proc IMechE Part J: J Engineering Tribology 0(0)
Figure 7. Nominal normal load vs. time loading mode to
simulate operational regime effect.57
noise. They reported that the water molecules trapped
in the interface changed the level of static and kinetic
COFs during sliding with regard to the hydrophobic
properties of the studied friction material. Verma
et al.53 conducted wear tests at large range of tempera-
tures (25  C, 170  C, 200  C, 250  C, 300  C, and
350  C), which correspond to different brake heating.
The critical temperature corresponding to the transi-
tion from mild to severe wear was identified. Kasem
et al.54 investigated the temperature changes in dry
sliding contact for braking applications. By using
pad-on-disc tribometer, the viability of thermal results
reported from an original in situ thermal metrology
method especially developed for sliding contact in
braking applications was discussed. Ferrer et al.55 dis-
cussed the friction material capacity to dissipate
energy in the form of surface heat under controlled
environmental conditions using pin-on-disc test, par-
ticularly hot points and strips spreading.
Effect of the operational regime (loading mode). Cyclic,
continuous and intermittent loadings and reciprocating
sliding are used in the study of the effect of operational
regimes on the friction material behaviors and the gen-
eration of airborne wear particles.56 Eriksson et al.57
simulated the internal loading effect on the friction
layer establishment of a pad-disc system due to the
behavior between the disc and the pad, induced by
normal load variation (Figure 7). The investigation
elucidates rapid changes of the contact situation on a
microscale. Kristol et al.16 proposed temperature-con-
trolled tribological tests defined by increasing rubbing
conditions severity under periodic sliding contact of 30
braking cycles. These tests correspond to low, medium,
and high energy wear tests, which permit reaching three
temperatures ranges representative of road braking
severities (Figure 8). Average, maximum, and minimum
friction coefficients fewer than 30 braking cycles were
identified and correlated to the thermo-mechanical
properties of the brake system materials.
Effect of the antagonist material category (disc
material). Usually, GCI, steel, and ceramic are used
Figure 8. Temperature-controlled loading of tribological tests
of friction material characterization.16
as disc brake material.58 The tribological behavior
of the friction material is in strong relation with the
antagonist, which particularly influences the thermal
transfer and friction layers establishment and com-
position. Ferrer et al.55 compared friction coefficient
properties of brake lining material in contact with a
sintered copper alloy disc. They reported a completely
different evolution of the friction coefficient. Maleque
et al.58 discussed a method to optimize braking mater-
ial efficiently by the substitution of the cast iron disc
by other lightweight materials. The use of pin-on-disc
test has allowed a board performance comparison
between cast iron and 5 other Ti-alloy category fric-
tion materials. Gunjal et al.59 developed a compara-
tive protocol to study the tribological behavior of
different disc materials i.e. GCI, structural steel, alu-
minum, and high speed steel (HSS) based on the cri-
teria of low frictional force, low coefficient of friction,
low wear rate, low cost, and better mechanical
properties.
Effect of ingredients properties and distribution on the pad
surface. Friction materials are typically made of a
composition of binder, reinforcement additives, fillers,
and friction modifiers. The nature, the quantity as
well as the shape and the geometry of these ingredi-
ents influenced the friction material behavior, and
consequently, the friction coefficient stabilities.
The studies of the compositional impact are widely
investigated in the literature and a complete analysis
of the synergic effect of all the ingredients in the fric-
tion material performance is seldom reported.
Menapace et al.60 studied the possible substitution
of copper ingredient in the brake friction materials
by changing the microstructure of the metallic ingre-
dients using high energy ball-milling. Based on
pin-on-disc tests, they controlled the friction coeffi-
cient behavior of the new material with regard to
the formation of Cu–ZrO2clusters on the pad-disc
rubbed surfaces. Kolluri et al.61 studied the friction
potential of different synthetic graphite with different
sizes (from 21 to 486 mm). They identified a critical
size of synthetic graphite particle, which can give the
best tribological performance properties in the friction
composite materials. Cho et al.37 studied the effect of
Kchaou et al. 9

phenolic resin, Ca(OH)2, rockwool, MgO, and zirco- respectively were characterized using a pin-on-disc trib-
nium silicate (zircon) weight percentage on friction ometer tests (Figure 9). The material composition is
and noise propensity. Aigbodian team’s tried to given in Table 6. GCI material is chosen for the antag-
develop friendly friction material by the valorization onist. The investigated friction materials were manufac-
of natural wastes. Different formulations were tested tured by a conventional procedure consisting of dry
using pin-on-disc tribometer to evaluate the braking mixing, pre-forming, hot molding, and post curing.
potential of the new materials particularly to The friction test consists of 600 cyclic rubbing, intermit-
keep stable and high level friction coefficient with an tent by the control of the sliding temperature, from
optimized formulation.62,63 200  C to 250  C, induced by surface friction. Table 7
gives the imposed parameters, which correspond to
temperature reached under service and moderate pres-
Case study: Representative friction test sure conditions during severe braking, leading to mod-
for studying the influence of hot molding erate thermal atmosphere on the pad–disc contact. The
duration on the friction–wear behavior test loading is shown in Figure 10.
of a friction composite material
The friction material is manufactured by a succession
of steps, essentially mixing, molding, and hot curing. Table 6. Brake friction material composition.
It was suggested that process parameters can influence
Classification Constituent Weight%
the friction material properties, especially by the dis-
tribution of ingredients on the surface and the forma- Binder Phenolic resin 14
tion of pores.12,16,64 Consequently, the frictional Reinforcement additives Mineral fiber 22
behavior was affected by the heterogeneity induced Filler Barite 47
by the manufacturing process. Beside, researchers Friction modifiers Aluminum oxide
try to understand the effect of such parameters to Graphite 17
optimize the manufacturing process for a more effi-
Rubber
cient material.

Experimental approach
Table 7. Experimental parameters.
As reported in our previous study,12 the phenolic resin
composite material is molded generally at 160  C for Load (N) 185
18 min. The alternative is to reduce this period to half Pressure (MPa) 0.6
according to a best combination between resin reticula- Sliding speed (m/s) 6
tion and tribological properties of the composite. Based Temperature range 200–250  C
on the previous work of our team,65 two formulations Number of cycles 600
namely C1 and C2 molding under 18 and 9 min

Figure 9. (a) Pin-on-disc tribometer, (b) details of the materials contact, (c) experimental protocol.
1. Motor, 2. Table, 3. Guidance, 4. Pneumatic loading, 5. Normal force sensor, 6. Transducer, 7. Spindle, 8. Four thermocouples type K,
9. Slip ring, 10. Acquisition.
10
Friction-wear results
Figure 11 shows the friction coefficient (COF) evolu-
tion of the two friction materials versus time for 600
braking cycles. For the C1 material, COF does not
Figure 10. Friction experimental protocol.
Figure 11. Evolution of friction coefficient in relation to the test duration and braking number of: (a) C1 (18 min), (b) C2 (9 min).
Proc IMechE Part J: J Engineering Tribology 0(0)
exceed 0.46 for all cycles of braking with stable fric-
tion behavior. On the other hand, C2 materials show
higher COF (globally 0.5) but with some fluctuation
of friction along the braking test. This difference in
behavior is particularly noticed at the end of the
cycling. If we related this behavior to unique modified
parameters between the two formulations, i.e. hot
molding duration, manufacturing process, it is note-
worthy that the decrease of hot molding duration
from 18 min to 9 min involves an increase of the fric-
tion coefficient. Controlled pin and disc temperatures
evolution is shown in Figure 12. It is noticed that the
temperature increases more rapidly for C1 material,
for both pin and disc (Figure 12(a)). However, the pin
temperature level of C2 material is less important with
few relative fluctuations (Figure 12(b)). Hentati
et al.65 reported that hot molding conditions act on
thermal properties, particularly thermal conductivity
but not on mechanical properties. Cristo et al.66 sug-
gested that hot molding impacts thermal localization
during braking (intensity and amplitude of thermal
Kchaou et al.
Figure 12. Evolution of pin (black) and disc (grey) friction temperatures: (a) C1 (18 min), (b) C2 (9 min).
Figure 13. Wear rate of C1 and C2 friction materials.
radiation) that is more intense for the materials man-
ufactured under a longer molding time, while the fluc-
tuations of the thermal radiation are more compacted
when the molding time is reduced. Consequently, we
can confirm that the temperature parameter affects the
friction responses of the material, which probably con-
firm the friction coefficient instability of C2. Figure 13
shows the wear rate of both studied materials. It exhi-
bits that the wear rates of C2 is 1.5 times superior to
the material C1. The decrease in the molding duration
seems to effect wear rates inversely. If we correlate this
wear behavior to the friction and temperature evolu-
tion, we suggest that this process parameter has a little
influence on friction evolution over the time. However,
wear is sensitive to hot molding conditions.
Conclusion
In this article, tribological tests and methods for the
evaluation of the performance of the brake friction
materials are discussed in order to emphasize the via-
bility of these trials and their representativeness of
studied the problem. The following conclusions are
established:
– Friction testing of brake friction materials is a
complex job attributed to the heterogeneity of the
materials induced by process, constitutions, micro-
structure, etc. and the number of activated
11
phenomenon induced by the synergy between
solicitations and materials properties under varying
operating conditions.
– Standard tribological tests are required for the fric-
tion material performance testing. However, the
need for the reduced scale testing is justified for the
development of new formulations with the optimiza-
tion of manufacturing process and materials com-
position in a sustainable development approach.
– Different COFs (m, mmind, mmax, mmin) are defined
and used by researchers to characterize the friction
behavior not only in the overall braking system but
also in relation to each specific braking condition.
The variability of brake situation induces a large
range of parameters that condition the braking per-
formance necessities of some COF to describe local
problem (heating interface exchange, localization
phenomenon evolution from the first to the last
cycle of braking) and other the global system
(taking in to consideration the dynamical aspect
of the braking system and the synergy between dif-
ferent active phenomenon like tribology-brake
squeal-dynamic triplet).
– Not all full-scale tribo-testing rigs i.e.
Dynamometer, Chase, Krauss, and FAST tribo-
testing, have the same potential of performance
qualification (for evaluating COF–temperature
sensitivity). However, significant evidence about
the friction loss at high temperature (fading
effect) could be established, which cannot be
observed in more global tests, such as those per-
formed on vehicle tests. Therefore, they should be
carefully designed to assure more realistic brake
friction performance evaluation.
– Additional measurements carried out using experi-
mental apparatuses are required to extend and val-
idate pin-on-disc indicators of the tribological
behavior of friction materials.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank the Tunisian Ministry of Higher
Education and Scientific Research for their continuous sup-
port of research at the Laboratory of Electro-Mechanical
12
Systems of Sfax. The authors thank STUGA Frem Society
(Tunisia) for providing them with the brake lining samples
and GeM Laboratory (France) and Selcuk University
(Turkey) for their scientific cooperation.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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