Date of Award
8-1-2024
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Mechanical Engineering
First Advisor
Filip, Peter
Abstract
Interaction of friction brakes with external environment can considerably influence their performance which could relate to friction instabilities and friction induced vibration and noise. The goal of this thesis is to optimize the mechanical properties of Al-alloy and address the friction, wear, and noise heat-treated rotors tested in scaled down SAE recommended testing procedure. The adopted T5 heat treatment process of Al-alloys involves a particular order of controlled heating and cooling steps designed to get specific microstructural changes within the alloy leading to optimized strength/hardness. Hardness is measured with Rockwell’s Hardness Tester. Artificial ageing at elevated temperature process is done. With every heat treatment, strength, hardness and wear resistance of these alloys, whose mechanical characteristics are weak, can be increased. Friction tests were performed by using the bench top UMT Tribo Lab friction tester equipped with humidity and temperature chambers and the friction testing was conducted using a scaled-down ISO/SAE J2522 procedure. The data was analyzed using MATLAB. The friction performance (friction and its stability, wear, noise and environmental response) of brake pads is further studied.
Access
This thesis is Open Access and may be downloaded by anyone.