Abstract
Composites Friction Materials consist of a large number of constituents with different sizes and chemical composition, wherein each material maintains its separate identity after being mixing, molding and curing. These constituents interact together to provide mechanical strength; their mixing homogeneity will ensure good brake performance. So, processing conditions are fundamental to obtaining stable friction material properties; however there is a lack of information related to friction materials mixing processes and its relationship with friction properties. Previous works have shown how relevant the friction materials microstructure is regarding performance properties such as friction coefficient stability, low wear, and dust emissions, and low noise levels; this motivates us to study how to generate a microstructure as homogeneous as possible. Specifically, this work aims to study different mixing conditions (speed and time) used in the industry and their impact in their performance properties. It was found for a semi-met formulation, that it is possible to obtained better homogeneity in mechanical properties with higher mixing times. It was also observed greater mixing time promotes the generation of higher and more stable primary plateaus.
KEYWORDS Mixing, microstructure, pad surface.