Influence of Braking Conditions on Tribological Performance of Copper-Based Powder Metallurgical Braking Material

High-speed transportation tools demand durable and effective friction materials for practical applications. In this work, we developed a copper-based powder metallurgical friction material via spark plasma sintering, and studied its tribological performances subjected to different braking conditions. Using inertial braking test bench and temperature measuring instrument, average friction coefficient, instantaneous friction coefficient and temperature near friction surface of the material in braking process were tested at two initial speeds (28, 69 m/s) and three contact pressures (0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 MPa). The wear rate of materials was calculated accordingly. Results show that under the same exerted pressure, the average friction coefficient and wear rate at the high speed are smaller than those at the low speed. At the high test speed, the high friction temperature leads to an obvious decrease in instantaneous friction coefficient when the braking process reaches a certain stage. Based on the friction surface morphology analysis, the adhesive wear on the surface has been reduced because of the formation of oxide films at the high speed and surface oxidation wear gradually increases as the pressure increases.