ARTICLE IN PRESS

Tribology International 43 (2010) 544–553

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Tribology International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint

Wear and friction behavior of sand cast brake rotor made of A359-20 vol% SiC
particle composites sliding against automobile friction material
A. Daoud , M.T. Abou El-khair
Composite Materials Laboratory, Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute (CMRDI), P.O. Box 87, Helwan, Cairo, Egypt

a r t i c l e in f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The effect of load range of 30–100 N and speed range of 3–12 m/s on the wear and friction behavior of
Received 28 October 2008 sand cast brake rotor made of A359-20 vol% SiC particle composites sliding against automobile friction
Received in revised form material was investigated. Dry sliding frictional and wear behavior were investigated in a pin-on-disc
10 September 2009
type apparatus. Automobile friction material was used as pin, while the A359-20 vol% SiC particle
Accepted 16 September 2009
Available online 23 October 2009
composites formed the rotating disc. For comparison, the wear and friction behavior of commercially
used cast iron brake rotor were studied. The results showed that the wear rate of the composite disc
Keywords: decreased with increasing the applied load from 30 to 50 N and increased with increasing the load from
Aluminum matrix composite 50 to100 N. However, the wear rate of the composite disc decreased with increasing the sliding speed at
Friction material
all levels of load applied in the present work. For all sliding speeds, the friction coefficient of the
Dry sliding wear
composite disc decreased with applied load. The worn surfaces as well as wear debris were studied
Sand cast brake rotor
using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyzer and X-ray diffraction
(XRD) technique. At load of 50 N and speed range of 3–12 m/s, the worn surface of the composite disc
showed a dark adherent layer, which mostly consisted of constituents of the friction material. This layer
acted as a protective coating and lubricant, resulting in an improvement in the wear resistance of the
composite.
& 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Aluminum matrix composites reinforced with SiC particles
exhibit better frictional and wear behavior, higher specific heat
capacity and thermal conductivity, and especially, lower density
in comparison to conventional cast iron [1,2]. Thus, these
composites have emerged as a potential material for wear
resistant and weight critical applications such as brake rotors
and drums, and cylinder liners, pistons, cylinder blocks, etc. [3].
Brake rotor made of Al–SiC particle composites in automotive
brake systems is being considered among the important applica-
tions for metal matrix composites (MMCs). In practical situations,
brake rotors slid against brake pad materials. However, a
considerable amount of work has been done on the tribological
behavior of Al–SiC composites tested against ferrous materials
[4–7]. These tests did not reflect the real tribological behavior of
Al–SiC composites used for brake rotor applications. Although, in
these applications, the rotor material slides against automotive
friction material, very little information is available in the open
literature on the tribological interactions between Al–SiC compo-
sites and brake pad materials. Thus, investigations are needed to
 Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ADAOUD_eg@yahoo.com (A. Daoud).
study the real wear behavior of the Al–SiC composites sliding
against automotive friction materials.
Recently, a few studies involving a brake pad material as a
counter body have appeared. For example, the influence of sliding
speed on the wear and friction behavior of two aluminum matrix
composites reinforced with 13 vol% of SiC or B4C particles sliding
against a commercial phenolic brake pad has been investigated
under dry condition by Shorowordi et al. [8]. The wear tests were
carried out using a pin-on-disc type apparatus at two linear
sliding speeds of 1.62 and 4.17 m/s under a constant contact
pressure. The authors have observed that higher sliding speed
leads to lower wear rate and friction coefficient of both
composites. Straffelini et al. [9] have studied the effect of load
and external heating on the friction and wear behavior of two AlSi
alloys containing 10 and 20 vol% of SiC particles dry sliding
against a semi-metallic friction material. They have found that for
loads lower than 200 N, the wear is by abrasion and adhesion, and
the friction coefficient is quite high (around 0.45). For loads higher
than 200 N, the friction coefficient decreases with increasing the
load in both materials, whereas the wear rate increases with
increasing the load. External heating induces a decrease in the
wear rate of both composites, but also an unacceptable decrease
in the friction coefficient and increase in the wear rate of the
counterface friction material. The investigation carried out by
Uyyuru et al. [10] on the tribological behavior of AlSi–SiC particle

0301-679X/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.triboint.2009.09.003
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A. Daoud, M.T. Abou El-khair / Tribology International 43 (2010) 544–553
composites sliding against automobile brake pads has shown that
the wear rate increases with the increase in the normal load and
decreases with increasing the sliding speed. However, the friction
coefficient decreases with the increase in the normal load and
sliding speed. Natarajan et al. [11] have compared the wear
behavior of A356-25 vol% SiC composite sliding against auto-
mobile friction material with that of the conventional grey cast
iron. They have reported that the A356-25 vol% SiC composite has
higher wear resistance than conventional grey cast iron sliding
against friction material under identical conditions. In addition,
they have observed a gradual reduction in the friction coefficient
with increasing the applied load for both cast iron and composite.
Zhang et al. [12] have investigated the friction and wear behavior
of brake material dry sliding against two different brake drums
made of aluminum matrix composite reinforced with different
sizes (3.5 and 34 mm) of 25 vol% SiC particles, in place of the
conventional cast iron brake drum for a Chase Machine. They have
observed that the friction performances and wear resistance for
the brake material sliding against the drum with large-size SiC
particles are better than those against the drum with small-size
SiC particles.
In the last few years, considerable development has occurred
in the potential use of cast MMCs for automotive applications.
However, a few issues have restricted wider industrial acceptance
of brake rotor made of Al–SiC composites. Some of these issues
are associated with the high cost of composite fabrication relative
to the current low-volume market potential and integration of
laboratory-scale processing experience into commercial produc-
tion. Ultimately, manufacturability, product performance and
cost-competitiveness of Al–SiC brake rotor relative to traditional
cast iron brake rotor will determine whether this component will
graduate from laboratory curiosity to commercial production
with meaningful market potential.
To the best of our knowledge, there has been no previous work
dealing with a comparative study between the wear and friction
behavior of sand cast brake rotor made of A359-20 vol% SiC
particles and commercially used cast iron brake rotor. Accord-
ingly, the present work was undertaken to produce sand cast
brake rotor made of A359–20 vol% SiC composite manufactured
by using a low-cost stir casting technique. The influence of load
range of 30–100 N and speed range of 3–12 m/s on the tribological
behavior of cast iron and MMC brake rotor material was
investigated. A comparative study between the wear resistance
and frictional behavior of the composite and cast iron was
conducted. Furthermore, the worn surfaces of the composite and
friction material as well as the wear debris were studied in order
to ascertain the wear mechanisms.
2. Experiments
2.1. Fabrication of MMC brake rotor
A359 alloy (Al9Si0.7Mg) was used as a matrix material and SiC
particles with an average size of 5 mm were used as a reinforce-
ment. The composite was prepared by stir casting technique. The
A359 alloy was placed in a crucible and heated to 100 1C above its
liquidus temperature. The SiC particles were heated to 600 1C to
avoid the molten A359 alloy excess cooling when mixing. Then, a
stirrer driven by a motor was introduced into the molten metal
and a vortex was created on the top surface. After the preheated
SiC particles were added, the stirring was continued for 3 min. The
composite slurry was then poured into a sand mould having
the configuration of commercial automobile brake rotor. Then, the
solidified brake rotor was removed and subjected to T6 heat
treatment by using a computerized furnace (Vulcan 3-550) in the
545
following manner: solution treatment at 538 1C for 8 h, water
quenching at 60 1C and isothermal aging at 154 1C. Vickers
hardness was measured using a HBV-30A macrohardness tester
at a load of 10 Kgf. Maximum hardness of 126 HV (peak-aged
condition) of the composite was obtained after 14 h aging time.
The cast brake rotor was then machined and checked for voids. No
large-scale defects such as cracks or porosity were detected.
2.2. Preparation of the discs
For comparison, the wear and friction behavior of commer-
cially used cast iron and the proposed composite brake rotor and
their counterface commercial automobile friction material were
studied in this investigation. The cast iron and MMC discs were
machined from a commercial passenger car brake rotor and
A359–20 vol% SiC brake rotor produced in the present work,
respectively. The inner and outer diameters of the disc were 140
and 180 mm, respectively. The surfaces of the discs were
machined to an average roughness value of 1.5 mm, which is
same as the roughness value of the sliding surface of the actual
commercial brake rotor. Photograph of the A359-20 vol% SiC disc
used for the wear test and its microstructure are shown in Fig. 1
and Fig. 2(a), respectively. The density of the composite was
measured using Archimedes method.
2.3. Preparation of the pins
A commercial automotive brake material was used as pins for
the wear test. Since these commercial friction materials are
proprietary items, their compositions are not exactly known.
However, it is generally known that commercial friction material
may contain phenolic resin, filler materials (BaSO4/CaCO3) and
small amount of metal chips (e.g. iron) as friction modifier, etc
[8,13,14]. XRD pattern of the friction material used in the present
work detected a number of elements, viz. C, Fe and Cu, and
compounds, viz. CaCO3, TiO2 and ZnO as can be seen in Fig. 2(b).
The pins were machined such that each pin was of 10  10 mm
square in cross-section and a height of 20 mm. The square cross-
section was chosen for two reasons: firstly, it was preferable over
circular cross-section since the use of rectangular cross-section
results in less scatter in the friction and wear data [10,15],
secondly it was difficult to machine pin of circular cross-section
from the brake material. The pin surfaces were cleaned and
conditioned before starting of every experiment.
2 cm
Fig. 1. Photograph of as-machined A359-20 vol% SiC composite disc.
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546 A. Daoud, M.T. Abou El-khair / Tribology International 43 (2010) 544–553

Fig. 2. Microstructure of A359-20 vol% SiC composite (a) and XRD analysis of the friction material (b). C: Carbon, T: TiO2, Ca: CaCO3, Z: ZnO and F: Fe.

2.4. Wear tests chromel–alumel thermocouple was inserted in the friction

Dry sliding frictional and wear behavior of the cast iron and
MMC disc were investigated in a pin-on-disc type apparatus. The
brake material in the form of pin was fixed on a holder. During the
wear test, the end surface of the brake material pin was pressed
against a horizontal rotating cast iron or MMC disc. Different
loads in the range of 30–100 N were applied directly on the top
of the pin, which yielded a nominal contact pressure range
of 0.3–1 MPa. Tests were conducted at linear speed range of
3–12 m/s for 30 min. The friction coefficient was calculated from
the friction force measured during the wear test. The tests were
carried out in ambient air with a relative humidity and
temperature of 60% and 30 1C, respectively. During each test
period, the contact temperature was measured. For this purpose, a
material pin at distance of 2 mm from the contact surface. After
each test, the wear debris were collected and stored for further
analysis. The disc and pin were weighed before and after each test
by using a Sartorius microbalance (Model:TE214S) having an
accuracy of 0.1 mg, and the weight loss was used to determine the
wear rate. The following equation was used to obtain the wear
rate for the pin and disc:
W ¼ M=rD
where W is the wear rate (mm3/m), M denotes mass loss (g), and
r (g/mm3) and D (m) are the density and sliding distance,
respectively. At least, three wear tests were conducted for each
condition.
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2.5. Characterization of worn surfaces and wear debris 10

3 m/s 6 m/s 9m/s
9
The worn surfaces of the composite disc and friction material
as well as the wear debris were analyzed in order to investigate 8

Wear rate X 10-3, mm3/m

the operating wear mechanisms. The wear debris were examined 7
for their chemical characterization and morphology by using a
6
SEM (JEOL-JSM- 5410) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray
(EDX) analyzer. The worn surfaces were observed with an optical 5
microscopy (Olympus BX41) and SEM. 4
3
3. Results 2

3.1. Effect of load and speed on wear rate of A359-20 vol% SiC sliding 1
against friction material 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
The wear rate of A359-20 vol% SiC disc sliding against the load, N
friction material as a function of applied load at different sliding
Fig. 4. Variation of wear rate of cast iron disc with applied load.
speeds is presented in Fig. 3. It can be observed that at sliding
speeds of 3 and 6 m/s, the wear rate decreases with increasing the
applied load from 30 to 50 N and increases with further increasing 10
the load from 50 to 100 N. This tendency is also observed by 3 m/s 6 m/s
9 9 m/s 12 m/s
Uyyuru et al. [10]. However, at sliding speed of 12 m/s, it seems
8

Wear rate X 10-3, mm3/m

that the applied load does not significantly affect the wear rate of
the A359-20 vol% SiC disc. Furthermore, it can be noted from Fig. 3 7
that the wear rate decreases with increasing the sliding speed at
6
all levels of load.
5
3.2. Effect of load and speed on wear rate of cast iron disc sliding 4
against friction material 3
2
Fig. 4 shows the wear rate of the cast iron disc sliding against
the friction material as a function of applied load at different 1
sliding speeds. It can be seen that the wear rate increases almost 0
linearly with the applied load, irrespective of the sliding speed. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
These results are in agreement with those reported in the Load, N
literature [11,16]. Generally, for all load levels, the wear rate
decreases as the sliding speed increases. Fig. 5. Wear rate as a function of applied load for friction material sliding against
composite disc.

3.3. Effect of load and speed on wear rate of friction material sliding
10
against A359-20 vol% SiC composite disc 3 m/s 6 m/s 9 m/s
9
In Fig. 5 the evolution of the wear rate of the friction material 8
Wear rate X 10-3, mm3/m

as a function of applied load is shown. For the sliding speeds of

3 and 6 m/s, the wear rate decreases as the applied load increases 7
6

10 5

9 3 m/s 6 m/s 9 m/s 12 m/s

4
Wear rate X 10-3, mm3/m

8 3
7 2
6 1
5 0
4 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
Load, N
3
2 Fig. 6. Wear rate as a function of applied load for friction material sliding against
cast iron disc.
1
0
from 30 to 50 N. Then, the wear rate increases as the load
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
increases from 50 to 100 N. At sliding speed of 12 m/s, increasing
Load, N
the applied load has a marginal effect on the wear rate. Generally,
Fig. 3. Variation of wear rate of A359-20 vol% SiC composite disc with applied it can be observed from Fig. 5 that the wear rate of the friction
load. material decreases with sliding speed.
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3.4. Effect of load and speed on wear rate of friction material sliding 0.7
against cast iron disc 3 m/s 6 m/s 9 m/s
0.6
The variation of wear rate with load for friction material
0.5
sliding against cast iron disc is shown in Fig. 6. At all sliding
speeds, the wear rate of friction material is found to increase with 0.4

COF
increasing the applied load. In addition, the wear rate decreases as
the sliding speed increases. This decrease is more pronounced as 0.3
the sliding speed increases from 3 to 6 m/s.
0.2

3.5. Wear rate comparison between A359-20 vol% SiC composite and 0.1
cast iron disc sliding against friction material
0
From Figs. 3 and 4, it can be observed that at sliding 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
speed range of 3–9 m/s, the wear rate of the A359-20 vol% Load, N
SiC composite is higher than that of the cast iron at loads
Fig. 8. Coefficient of friction as a function of load for cast iron disc sliding against
of 30 and 100 N. However, at load of 50 N, the wear rate of the
friction material.
A359-20 vol% SiC composite is slightly higher than that of the cast
iron.
sliding speed at applied loads of 70 and 100 N does not have a
significant effect on the friction coefficient.
3.6. Wear rate comparison between friction material sliding against
cast iron and A359-20 vol% SiC disc 3.8. Effect of load and speed on friction coefficient of cast iron and
friction material
Generally, the wear rate of the friction material sliding against
cast iron disc is lower than that of the friction material sliding The average friction coefficient of friction material and cast
against A359-20 vol% SiC composite disc, see Figs. 5 and 6. iron couple as a function of the applied load at different sliding
However, at sliding speeds of 3, 6 and 9 m/s and applied load of speeds is presented in Fig. 8. For all sliding speeds, the friction
50 N, the wear rate of the friction material sliding against cast iron coefficient continuously decreases with the increase of load. This
is slightly higher than that of the friction material sliding against decrease is more pronounced as the applied load increases from
A359-20 vol% SiC composite. In addition, at load of 30 and 100 N, 30 to 50 N. At applied load of 30 N, the coefficient of friction
and sliding speeds of 3, 6 and 9 m/s, the wear rate of the friction significantly increases with the sliding speed.
material sliding against A359-20 vol% SiC composite disc is
significantly higher than that of the friction material sliding
3.9. Coefficient of friction comparison between A359-20 vol% SiC and
against cast iron.
cast iron sliding against friction material

3.7. Effect of load and speed on friction coefficient of A359-20 vol% By comparing Figs. 7 and 8, it can be deduced that the friction
SiC and friction material coefficient of A359-20 vol% SiC is higher than that of cast iron at
all test conditions. The decrease in friction coefficient with
Fig. 7 presents the influence of the applied load on the average increasing the load is more for cast iron than A359-20 vol% SiC.
friction coefficient of friction material and A359-20 vol% SiC for all Also, increasing the sliding speed does not have a significant effect
sliding speeds. It is found that the friction coefficients are in the on the friction coefficient of A359-20 vol% SiC. These results
range of 0.2–0.65. Generally speaking, for all sliding speeds, with indicate that the A359-20 vol% SiC disc shows a stable and higher
the increase in the applied load, the friction coefficient decreases. friction coefficient, in comparison to cast iron, which is essential
It is interesting to note that the load effect on the wear rate is as for brake rotor applications.
intense as on the friction coefficient. However, increasing the
3.10. Effect of load and speed on contact temperature of A359-
0.7 20 vol% SiC and friction material
3 m/s 6 m/s
9 m/s 12 m/s
0.6 Fig. 9 represents variation of increase in contact temperature
of A359-20 vol% SiC and friction material with applied load at
0.5
different sliding speeds. It is noted that initially, the temperature
0.4 increases slowly with applied load from 30 to 70 N and rapidly as
COF

the applied load increases from 70 to 100 N. Unlike the case of

0.3 increasing the applied load, the contact temperature exhibits a
uniform increase with increasing the sliding speed.
0.2
3.11. Effect of load and speed on contact temperature of cast iron
0.1 and friction material
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 Fig. 10 shows the relationship between the increase in contact
temperature and applied load of cast iron disc and friction
Load, N
material couple at different sliding speeds. Like in the case of
Fig. 7. Coefficient of friction (COF) as a function of load for composite disc sliding A359-20 vol% SiC disc, the temperature increases slowly with
against friction material. increasing the applied load from 30 to 50 N and rapidly as the load
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70 et al. [17] have reported that the lower the frictional heating
3 m/s 6 m/s 9 m/s 12 m/s parameter, the less heat must be dissipated to the surroundings.
60 Accordingly, it can be deduced that A359-20 vol% SiC composite
Increase in temperature,°C

disc runs much cooler than the cast iron. The A359 alloy and SiC
50 particles, whose ambient temperature thermal conductivities are
134 and 120 W/m 1C, respectively [18], significantly decrease the
40
F value. As expected, the disc surface with lower thermal
30 conductivity tends to heat more. The frictional heating parameter
of the cast iron disc, which has thermal conductivity of 47.3
20 W/m 1C, is about 3 times higher than that of the A359-20 vol% SiC
composite, indicating that cast iron disc runs much hotter.
10

0 3.13. Worn surface of A359-20 vol% SiC composite disc

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
Load, N The worn track on the A359-20 vol% SiC composite disc tested
at load of 70 N and speed of 6 m/s shows a dark adherent layer as
Fig. 9. Increase in contact temperature as a function of load of composite disc can be seen in Fig. 11(a). By comparison of the photographs of as-
sliding against friction material.
machined composite disc surface, Fig. 1, with worn surface of the
composite disc, Fig. 11(a), it can be observed that the worn track is
70 relatively smoother because of the filling of machined grooves
3 m/s 6 m/s 9 m/s with a dark layer formed during the wear test. Fig. 11(b, c) show
60 optical micrographs of the worn surface of A359-20 vol% SiC
Increase in temperature,°C

composite disc tested at load of 50 N and speed of 12 m/s. At low

50 magnification, the worn surface appears dark and flat since a
transfer layer covers it. Fig. 11(c) shows the same sample at a
40
higher magnification. At this magnification, SiC particles can
be seen embedded on the worn surface. The worn surface of
30
A359-20 vol% SiC composite disc tested at load of 100 N and speed
20 of 9 m/s reveals a thin dark adherent layer when viewed with
naked eye. Fig. 11(d) shows the worn surface of the same sample.
10 The presence of abrasive grooves can be clearly recognized. In
addition, the worn surface is characterized by plastic deformation
0 and evidence of adhesive damage (denoted by D) within the
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 grooves can be observed. The micrograph of the worn surface also
Load, N reveals the presence of some bright patches on the worn surface.
These represent areas from which the wear debris have been
Fig. 10. Increase in contact temperature as a function of load of cast iron disc
removed.
sliding against friction material.

increases from 50 to 100 N. In addition, from Fig. 10, it can be
noted that the contact temperature increases uniformly with the
sliding speed.
3.12. Contact temperature and frictional heating parameter
comparison between A359-20 vol% SiC and cast iron disc sliding
against friction material
A comparison between the data in Figs. 9 and 10 shows that
the temperature rise is more in the case of cast iron disc as
compared to that in the A359-20 vol% SiC, irrespective of the test
conditions.
The frictional heating parameter (F) can be used to evaluate
how efficiently the sliding conditions ( applied load, sliding speed
and time) convert frictional work done during dry sliding wear
test into heating the disc surface. The frictional heating parameter
can be calculated using the following relation [17]:
F ¼ DT=mFVt
where DT is the measured temperature rise (1C), m is the average
friction coefficient, F is the applied normal force (N), V is the
sliding speed (m/s) and t is the sliding time (s). The average value
of the frictional heating parameter for A359-20 vol% SiC compo-
site disc sliding against friction material was found to be
8.4  10  5 1C/J whereas it was 24  10  5 1C/J for cast iron disc
sliding against friction material under similar conditions. Blau
3.14. Worn surface of friction material and wear debris
Fig. 12 shows low magnification SEM graphs of the worn
surfaces of the friction material. It can be seen the difference in
appearance between the worn surfaces of the friction material
tested at low and high speeds or loads. The worn surfaces of the
friction material sliding against cast iron or composite disc tested
at a speed of 12 m/s and load of 100 N are rough and reveal deep
and coarse sliding marks as can be seen in Fig. 12(b, d). In
contrast, at lower speed (3 m/s) and load (30 N), the worn surfaces
are smoother, Fig. 12(a, c). By comparing between the worn
surfaces of the friction material sliding against cast iron and
composite, it can be observed that the worn surfaces of the
friction material sliding against cast iron disc reveal less wear
damage and smaller grooves. However, the worn surface of
the friction material sliding against composite disc shown in
Fig. 12(b) exhibits slightly deeper and wider grooves. This can be
attributed to the attack of small-size SiC particles used present in
the composite disc. However, it has been reported that large-size
SiC particles cause severer damage of the friction material surface
during the wear test course [12].
Fig. 13(a) shows EDX spectrum of the wear debris collected at
the end of the wear test of the composite disc at load of 100 N and
speed of 9 m/s. As can be seen from Fig. 13(a) besides Al, a
considerable amount of Fe, Si, Ca, O, S, Ba and Mg is present. It
should be mentioned that the friction material contains O, Mg, Si,
S, Ca, Fe, Ti and Ba, Si and O belonging to asbestos fiber or A359
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0.7cm 200µm

SiC

25µm 200µm

Fig. 11. Photograph of the A359-20 vol% SiC composite disc after wear test (a) and optical micrographs of the worn surfaces of the A359-20 vol% SiC composite disc (b–d).
(a) Load: 70 N, speed: 6 m/s 0.7 cm. (b) Load: 50 N, speed: 12 m/s 200 mm. (c) Load: 50 N, speed: 12 m/s 25 mm. (d) Load: 100 N, speed: 9 m/s 200 mm.

Fig. 12. SEM graphs of the friction material sliding against composite disc (a, b) and cast iron disc (c, d). (a) Load: 30 N, speed: 3 m/s (b) Load: 100 N, speed: 12 m/s. (c) Load:
30 N, speed: 3 m/s. (d) Load: 100 N, speed: 12 m/s.
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Fig. 13. EDX spectrum of the wear debris (a) and their morphology (b) collected
after wear test of composite disc at load of 100 N and sliding speed of 9 m/s.
alloy ; Ba, S and O belonging to BaSO4 filler; Fe belonging to
metallic chips. Oxygen is expected to come from aluminum oxide
that may form during the wear test. Thus, it can be deduced that
the elements found in the debris come from the composite disc
and friction material pin. SEM micrograph of the wear debris
shown in Fig. 13(b) reveals that the debris are of different shapes
and sizes.
4. Discussions
The present results reveal that the wear rate of the A359-
20 vol% SiC composite is higher than that of cast iron. These
results are in contrast to those obtained by Natarajan et al. [11].
They have found that A356 alloy reinforced with 25 vol%
SiC particles having size of 43 mm exhibits lower wear rate than
that of conventional cast iron under a sliding speed range of
2.5–6.3 m/s and applied load range of 20–100 N. In the present
work, the higher wear rate of the A359-20 vol% SiC can be
551
attributed to the smaller SiC particle size (5 mm) and a coarse
A359 matrix alloy microstructure owing to the relatively slower
cooling rate obtained in the sand mold. Jokinen et al. [19] have
found that particles having sizes beyond 13 mm are effective in
reducing the wear rate of the MMCs. Similarly, Zhang et al. [12]
have noted a significant decrease in the wear rate of AlSiNi–SiC
particle composites with increasing particle size of SiC from 3.5 to
34 mm. For the composites containing small particles, the particles
strengthen the matrix alloy, thus, improving the wear resistance
of the composite by limiting the deformation. As compared with
the composite with large-size particles, the mean distance
between the smaller particle size in the composite is shorter
under the same volume fraction conditions because of the growth
of the particle number. As a result, small particles can conform
with the matrix and are more easily pulled out, and may be
entrapped between the composite disc and friction material,
leading to three-body abrasion. Since the matrix/particle inter-
facial area increases as the size of the particle increases, large
particle are expected to remain embedded longer than smaller
particles until the matrix can no longer support them or until they
are broken down into smaller pieces. Thus, they effectively resist
the deformation. In addition, the large particles protruding from
the surface of the composite bear most of the wear load [20,21].
The present experimental results also indicate that at load of
50 N, the composite disc exhibits a better wear resistance.
However, at load levels between 70 to 100 N, the composites disc
shows a much higher wear rate. Based on the present results and
metallographic observations, the wear mechanisms can be
rationalized as follows. At load of 50 N, SiC particles or Si phase
act as load-bearing elements. The wear resistance of the
composite can be attributed to strength, hardness and abrad-
ability of the SiC particles and Si phase. If the SiC particles remain
well bonded to the matrix during the sliding wear process, the
aluminum matrix surrounding them will be worn away and all
contacts will be between the friction material, and SiC particles
and Si phase in the composite. Therefore, the wear resistance of
the composites is related to the wear resistance and hardness of
the SiC particles and Si phase. In other words, at this stage, SiC
particles and Si phase bear the main wear loads; thus, improving
the adhesion and abrasion resistance of the composite [12], see
Fig. 3 and Fig. 11(b). Moreover, the exposed portions of SiC
particles or Si phase serve to create a local milling action on the
friction material and cause formation of grooves on its surface as
the load is sufficient to create such action. The detached wear
fragments from the friction material are transferred onto the wear
track on the composite disc and spread over the wear track on
the composite disc forming a protective layer as can be seen in
Fig. 11(b). Wear proceeds by spalling and reformation of this layer
that, also, acts as a lubricant due to the presence of C, which
comes from the friction material, resulting in an increase in the
wear resistance of the composite, Fig. 3.
It is well known that as the applied load or speed increases, the
total area of microcontacts between the disc and pin material
increases [22]. As the load increases from 30 to 50 N, the transfer
layer is strongly compacted. Thus, the transfer layer formed
protects the composite disc from adhesion and abrasion. It has
been reported that the compacted transfer layer could more
effectively protect the friction material from abrasion [9]. This is
in agreement with the present work, where the wear rate of the
friction material shows reductive tendencies with the increase of
load from 30 to 50 N (Fig. 5). As the speed is increased, the
composite disc exhibits lower wear rate, Fig. 3. This can be
attributed to domination of build-up of transfer layer because
there is less time for removal of wear debris.
As mentioned above a transfer layer is formed on the worn
surface of the composite disc, Fig. 11(b), which mostly contains
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the constituents of the friction material. The transfer layer is
found to firmly adhere to the worn surface, where ultrasonic
cleaning could not remove the layer to any great extent. The
formation of a transfer layer on the worn surface of A357 and
A358 reinforced with SiC particles sliding against brake pad
materials has been reported by Howell et al. [23]. The speed range
used was 0.52–3.16 m/s. They have found that under certain
conditions of sliding speed, normal loads and pad formulations, a
graphite layer forms on the MMC surface. Shorowordi et al. [8]
have identified the formation of a compact transfer layer in the
matrix region of the worn surface of the Al-13 vol% B4C and
Al-13 vol% SiC composites. The transfer layer mostly consists of
constituents of the phenolic pad material, which acts as counter-
body. The amount of the constituents of the counterbody in the
transfer layer increases with sliding speed. They have reported
that the transfer layer on the surface of the composites acts as a
protective cover. Therefore, both wear rate and friction coefficient
decrease, in agreement with the present work.
When the applied load (100 N) produces stresses higher than
the fracture strength of SiC particles or Si phase, they lose their
abilities to support the load, resulting in severe plastic deforma-
tion of composite disc and SiC particle pullout. Consequently,
large plastic strains are imposed on the material layers adjacent to
the contact surfaces and SiC particles may, also, conform with the
matrix. Thus, the high hardness and wear resistance of the SiC
particles are not fully utilized. The broken or pulled out hard SiC
particles entrap between the composite disc and friction material
and act as third-body abraders. Thus, they are responsible for the
production of grooves on the worn surface of both composite disc
and friction material, Fig. 11(d) and Fig. 12(b). The severe
localized deformation gives rise to crack formation. The final
detachment of the wear debris appears to be a result of crack
nucleation and growth in both the composite disc and friction
material pin. Since the SiC particles provide sites for crack
nucleation and propagation, the lower fracture toughness of the
composite relative to the matrix alloy rather than the hardness of
the SiC particles seems to control the wear rate. Consequently, the
wear rate increases at high load (100 N). In addition, another
important material loss mechanism is microgrooving as a result of
the abrasive action of fractured and pulled out SiC particles or Si
phase. The detached SiC particles enter the transfer layer, which
help to abrade the friction material. Moreover, the abrasive action
of fractured SiC or pulled out particles impedes, to some extent,
the formation of a thick transfer layer, resulting in an increase in
the wear rate, Fig. 3 and Fig. 11(d). The wear debris morphology
and analysis, Fig. 13, clearly point to the applicability of the
delamination wear mechanism involving crack nucleation and
propagation. It should be mentioned that that all the above
mentioned wear mechanisms are not clearly distinguishable from
each other where one of them may be predominant at any instant.
The wear rate of the friction material sliding against A359-
20 vol% SiC composite is slightly higher than that of the friction
material sliding against cast iron. This result is again in contrast to
that obtained by Natarajan et al. [11] where they have found that
the wear rate of the friction material sliding against A356-25 vol%
SiC composite is much higher than that of the friction material
sliding against cast iron under a sliding speed range of 2.5–6.3 m/s
and applied load range of 20 to 100 N [11]. The present results can
be attributed to the relatively smaller SiC particle size (5 mm) used
in the present composites in comparison to the size of the SiC
particles (43 mm) used in the composite prepared by Natarajan
et al. [11].
The variation of a brake couple coefficient of friction with
sliding speed is of great importance. The reason is that at various
braking conditions, one expects the same level of friction
coefficient. In other words, a stable and high friction coefficient
is essential for brake rotor applications. In this study, the effect of
ranges of sliding speeds and applied loads on friction coefficients
of A359-20 vol% SiC and cast iron disc sliding against friction
materiel was investigated. For the cast iron disc, the friction
coefficient increases with increasing the sliding speed. On the
other hand, the A359-20 vol% SiC shows a marginal changes in
friction coefficients with increasing sliding speed (Fig. 7). It should
be mentioned that break phenomena such as noise, anti-fade, and
vibration are related to the variations in the friction coefficient
[24,25]. Friction coefficients for typical automotive braking
materials tend to fall in the range between 0.3 and 0.45. Within
the range of sliding speeds studied in the present work, the
friction coefficients of the A359-20 vol% SiC composite disc, which
are higher than those of cast iron disc, are seen to fall within the
industry standard range for automotive brake system [24,26]. At
high speeds, it is preferred friction coefficient in the range
between 0.3–0.35. Since the friction coefficient of cast iron disc
increases as the sliding speed increases and the sliding speed has
a marginal effect on the friction coefficient of the A359-20 vol%
SiC composite disc, Figs. 7 and 8, the A359-20 vol% SiC composite
disc is preferred. Figs. 7 and 8 show the load sensitivity of the
friction coefficients of A359-20 vol% SiC composite and cast iron
disc, respectively. These figures indicate that the friction coeffi-
cients of both cast iron and A359-20 vol% SiC composite discs are
responsive to the applied load; the friction coefficient tends to
decrease as the applied load increases. Other researchers have
reported the effect of the applied load on the friction coefficient of
the MMCs sliding against friction material. It has been found [8]
that the coefficient of friction of Al- 13 vol% B4C or Al- 13 vol% SiC
sliding against a phenolic pad is independent of the contact
pressure up to 2.25 MPa. However, the coefficient of friction
decreases from 0.39 to 0.35 for Al–13 vol% B4C and from 0.42 to
0.38 for Al-13 vol% SiC as the contact pressure increases from 2.25
to 3 MPa. Straffelini et al. have observed [9] a decreasing trend
in the coefficient of friction with applied load for Al containing
10 and 20 vol% SiC particles sliding against semi-metallic friction
material, in agreement with the present experimental results. It
has been reported that as the applied load increases, the contact
surface asperities deform. As a result, the real area of contact at
the sliding interface increases [27,28]. As can be seen from
Fig. 2(b), the friction material contains lubricants such as C.
Therefore, the lower coefficient of friction at high loads can be
attributed to the softening of the lubricating agents from the
friction material pin due to the higher temperature at the contact
surface, which results in a more extensive lubrication. Other
authors have reported the same effects of the higher contact
temperature on the coefficients of friction under lubricated
conditions [29,30].
5. Summary and conclusions
1. The wear rate of the A359-20 vol% SiC composite decreases
with increasing the applied load from 30 to 50 N and increases
with increasing the load from 50 to 100 N. The wear rate of the
composite decreases as the speed increases.
2. At speed range of 3–9 m/s, the wear rate of the composite is
higher than that of the cast iron at load of 30 N, slightly higher
at load of 50 N and again significantly higher at load of 100 N.
3. The wear rate of the friction material sliding against the
composite decreases as the applied load increases from 30 to
50 N and increases with increasing the load from 50 to 100 N.
However, it decreases with increasing the sliding speed,
indicating improved wear resistance at the higher speeds.
The wear rate of the friction material sliding against cast iron is
slightly lower than that of the friction material sliding against
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
A. Daoud, M.T. Abou El-khair / Tribology International 43 (2010) 544–553
composite owing to the relatively smaller SiC particle size
(5 mm) used in the present composite.
4. For all sliding speeds, the friction coefficient of the composite
and friction material couple decreases with increasing the
applied load. Increasing the sliding speed at applied load range
of 50–100 N does not have a significant effect on the friction
coefficient of the composite.
5. The friction coefficient of the composite is higher than that of
the cast iron at all test conditions. The composite disc shows a
stable and higher friction coefficient, in comparison to cast
iron, which is essential for brake rotor applications.
6. The frictional heating parameter of the cast iron disc is about
3 times higher than that of the composite, indicating that the
composite disc runs much cooler.
7. At load of 50 N and speed range of 3–12 m/s, the worn surface
of composite disc shows a dark adherent layer, which mostly
consists of constituents of the friction material. This layer acts
as a protective coating and lubricant, resulting in an improve-
ment in the wear resistance of the composite.
8. The merit of A359-20 vol% SiC brake rotor is a result of the
combination of its wear resistance, higher thermal conductiv-
ity, lighter weight and more uniform friction coefficient
compared to cast iron brake rotor. These properties provide
reduced braking distance and brake noise.
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