Study on microstructure and property of typical copper-based brake pads

To address the issues of low friction coefficient, poor stability, and high wear of the traditional copper-based brake pads under high-temperature braking conditions, the copper-based brake pads were prepared by high temperature solid-phase hot-pressing sintering at 880 ℃ after the cold pressing forming of the mixed components, using Cu‒Fe as the main components, Ni and Sn as the strengthening elements, graphite and MoS₂ as the lubricating components, and mullite, SiC, and zircon sand as the friction components. The phase composition, friction performance, hardness, density, and morphology of the prepared copper-based brake pads were investigated by X-ray diffractometer, high-temperature friction and wear testing machine, Archimedes displacement method, scanning electron microscope, and energy spectrometer. In the results, the wear rate of the prepared copper-based brake pads is 2.9 mg·(N·m)^‒1, the friction coefficient is 0.34~0.41, and the microstructure is fine and evenly distributed with the stable high-temperature performance. The wear mechanism is composed of abrasion, adhesion, and fatigue wear with the oxidative wear taken place at high temperature.