Investigation and Modelling of the Weight Wear of Friction Pads of a Railway Disc Brake

• Published in: Materials Vol. 15; no. 18; p. 6312
• Main Authors: Sawczuk, Wojciech, Merkisz-Guranowska, Agnieszka, Ulbrich, Dariusz, Kowalczyk, Jakub, Cañás, Armando-Miguel Rilo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Asbestos; bench testing; Brake disks; Braking; Braking systems; Carcinogens; Contact pressure; Correlation coefficients; Designers; Disc brakes; Friction; Investigations; Laboratories; Manufacturers; Mechanical properties; pad wear; Pollution; Railroads; railway disc brake; Regression models; Roads & highways; Test stands; Thermal imaging; Thickness; Vehicles; Wear; weight wear; Poland
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma15186312

This paper presents the results of tests on the railway disc brake with regard to the weight wear of friction pads. The tests were carried out at a certified brake test bench where the friction-mechanical characteristics of the railway brake were determined. The test stand was additionally equipped with a thermal imaging camera to observe the contact between the brake pads and the brake disc. The scientific goal of the test is to evaluate the relationship between the weight wear of friction pads and the quantities characterizing the braking process. The quantities characterizing the braking process included pad-to-disc contact area, friction pad thickness, pad-to-disc pressure, and braking speed. A regression model to estimate the friction pad wear on the basis of a single braking with the given input quantities was determined. The greatest influence on the increase in weight wear of friction pads has the braking velocity, which was confirmed by the value of the correlation coefficient of the regression model at value 0.81. The pressure of the friction pad to the disc and the friction pad thickness do not have a significant effect on the weight wear described by the regression model, and the obtained correlation coefficient for these parameters was lower than the value of 0.2.