Does ultra-mild wear play any role for dry friction applications, such as automotive braking?
(2012)
Nanostructured third body films and/or storage of wear debris at the surfaces of the first bodies are deemed as prerequisites of sliding under ultra-mild wear conditions. Since such features have been observed experimentally on brake pads and discs, attempts were undertaken to study their sliding behaviour by modelling on the nanoscopic scale with an approach based on Movable Cellular Automata (MCA). The model rendered the possibility to study the influence of different nanostructures systematically and to assess the impact of different brake pad ingredients on the sliding behaviour, velocity accommodation and friction force stabilization at a sliding contact. Besides providing a review on previously published modelling results, some additional new graphs enabling better visualization of dynamic processes are presented. Although ultra-mild wear conditions were considered to be essential for achieving the desired tribological properties, transitions to mesoscopic and macroscopic wear mechanisms were studied as well. The final conclusion is that ultra-mild wear and corresponding smooth sliding behaviour play an important role during automotive braking, even though temporarily and locally events of severe wear may cause friction instabilities, surface damage and release of coarse wear particles.
The tribological properties of nanostructured surface films formed during dry sliding, for example during
automotive braking, were determined by modelling using the method of movable cellular automata.
Starting from a basic model structure, consisting of magnetite with 13% graphite inclusions, the impact of
additional soft and hard particles of different size and volume fraction was studied systematically. It was
revealed that agglomerates of soft particles decomposed and finally mixed with the oxide in the same
way as single nanoparticles. On the other hand, agglomerates of hard particles mixed with the other
components without decomposing. Whereas increasing the amount of soft components in the third body
lowered the coefficient of friction, the opposite occurred with the hard particles. The boundary conditions
for obtaining smooth sliding conditions with minor fluctuations between friction forces at successive time
steps could be defined. In addition to features of the nanostructure, the applied normal pressure
impacted modelling results. Within the parameter range of smooth sliding behaviour, increasing pressure
induced thicker granular interface layers, which lead to a slight decrease of the coefficient of friction.
Changing the amount of soft or hard particles did not change this pressure dependency but only the
friction level.
In part 1 it was shown that tribofilms usually are 100 nm thick and exhibit a multiphase nanocrystalline structure. The objective of our modelling efforts was to obtain a better understanding of the sliding behaviour and associated friction properties and to study the impact of internal and external parameters on these properties. The method of movable cellular automata (MCA) was used. The third bodies were considered as aggregates of linked nanoparticles which may decompose and form a layer of granulär material, the so-called mechanically mixed layer (MML), if certain fracture criteria are fulfilled. The basic model structure which consists of Fe3Ü4 nanoparticles with 13 % graphite inclusions was used. In order to assess the robustness of the model the following parameter studies were performed. The pressure ränge at an asperity contact was varied between 15 and 50 MPa. The mechanical properties of the oxide were varied between brittle and ductile behaviour corresponding to room temperature and high temperature behaviour. The mechanical properties of the soft ingredient were varied + 50 % of the properties of graphite. The influence