Abstract
Automotive disc brake system is an important component in a vehicle, which is constantly subjected to nonlinear transient thermoelastic conditions. The major functions of a disc brake system are to reduce the speed of a vehicle, maintain its velocity when travelling downhill and to entirely bring the vehicle to a standstill. The brake disc generally undergoes a thermomechanical instability during the braking events, which may result in structural and wear failures of the brake components. In order to address the diverse issues related to thermal, mechanical and structural performances of automobile disc brakes. The current investigation was conducted to examine the thermomechanical response of Al-MC brake discs and compare the same with the corresponding GCI discs during a single braking stop event using a CAD-embedded finite element analysis. More specifically, this pre-simulation study is conducted to gain further understanding on how an Al-MC brake disc can be designed and optimized with a view to replacing the conventional GCI automotive brake disc.