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- FIB (5) (entfernen)
A rather new tool, the focused ion beam (FIB) technique, was used to characterise superficial layers at micro-contact areas of a commercial brake pad. The friction material was a polymer matrix composite (PMC) with approximately 50% metal content (semi-metallic) and the counter part was a cast iron rotor. Though the contact areas were not visible as topographic features, they could be identified with the aid of their increased secondary electron emission during FIB-scanning of the surface after tribological activation. Target preparation of micron-sized cross-sections with the FIB enabled the study of superficial layers at predetermined sites at high magnification.
Depending on the constituent of the pad, one, two or three layers were identified. The three layer structure comprised: (i) a 100 nm thick friction film containing nanocrystalline metal oxides and an amorphous phase which was enriched with sulphur, (ii) a nanocrystalline friction layer of compacted wear debris accommodating surface roughness and (iii) a severely deformed layer if the supporting constituent was a metal particle. Though the majority of loose wear particles was iron oxide, the friction film which adhered tightly to the pad surface contained a large amount of copper and sulphur, whereas zinc was transferred to the cast iron rotor.
Heat accumulation induced by a succession of railway brakings leads to changes of the friction conditions occurring in pad-disc contact. Infrared thermography observations show a progressive increase of surface temperature over the succession, as well as a modification of the hot band migration phenomenon. From a tribological point of view, the heat accumulation, accompanied by a wear increase, progressively modifies the friction behaviour from one braking to the next. Post-mortem observations of pads are performed on surface by scanning electron microscopy and in depth after Focus Ion Beam cut by scanning ion microscopy. Observations show that, with heat accumulation, the third body quantity rises inside the contact, in accordance with wear increase. It is concluded that source flows of third body, which increase with temperature, feed aplenty the contact and modify its load-bearing capacity.