A low cost, light weight cenosphere–aluminium composite for brake disc application

The commonly used composite material for brake rotor consists of silicon carbide (SiC) or aluminium oxide (Al2O3) particles which are more expensive. The weight of conventionally used composite is more compared to base alloy. The aim of this paper is to develop a light weight material for brake disc applications thereby substituting base alloy and conventional composite. This analysis led to 10 vol% cenosphere reinforced aluminium alloy (AA) 6063 composite as the most appropriate material for brake disc. To ensure the manufacturability of composite, composite brake rotor was casted using the sand casting technique and was machined to achieve the final component. Thermal capability of brake disc was ensured by studying temperature variation through vehicle testing procedure of disc brake. Cost reduction is one of the important benefit acquired using cenosphere reinforced composite. This was ensured by cost estimation and analysis. The cost estimated to manufacture the AA6063 brake disc was compared with composite cost.