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The purpose of this study is to clarify how the residual stress determined by the configuration of weight reduction holes affects the crack initiation in the brake discs for large motorcycles under the over loading condition. Two kinds of test samples of the one-piece type brake disc were used where the configuration of the weight reduction holes were different. The test result showed that the crack initiation life was significantly changed due to the configuration of weight reduction holes. The 3D FEM results of heat transfer and thermal stress analysis explained that the stress relaxation was dependent on the configuration of weight reduction holes of the disc because the initial thermal stress was directly determined by the simple stress distribution around each hole. This study confirmed that the configuration of weight reduction holes plays a decisive role in determining the design of the brake disc.

Braking tests under overloading were carried out using large one-piece brake disks having eyebrow-shaped holes as decoration. When the number of braking cycles was more than five, permanent deflection of the disks was observed. When the number of braking cycles was less than six, no appreciable deflection occured. The experiment revealed that such deflection occurrs during the cooling process after the final braking cycle. The mechanism for this phenomenon is explained based on the deflection-time record in conjunction with the temperature distribution of disks and its variation with respect to time. The key for this phenomenon is yielding in tension at the bridges between holes. The deflection occurs due to elastic-plastic buckling caused by shrinkage of the flange. Numerical simulations were successfully conducted by using a general 3D FEM in consideration of geometrical and material non-linearities.

The purpose of this study is to propose an effective model to estimate the excitation force accompanied with stick-slip between shoe and disc, considering the strain distribution on contact surface of the shoe, and then to propose an effective concept to design the brake which reduced the brake squeal under practical use. In order to investigate the influence of configuration of the hole, three types of discs were prepared in which the size of holes was different. The SPL (Sound Pressure Level) and the frequency of squeal for three types of discs were measured when the brake squeal was observed at conditions of low sliding speed. The change of stability of the brake shoe passing on hole was analyzed by 2-D simplified brake system model.

Brake discs have some holes in the flange for promoting heat dissipation as well as refreshing the pad surfaces. One-piece brake discs are desirable even for large sizes in order to reduce the production cost. However, cracks exceptionally occurred from some holes in the flange during braking under extremely severe test conditions for one-piece brake discs. On the other hand, no cracks were observed under the same condition for two-piece brake discs consisting of a hub and a flange. The objective of the present work is to show way cracks occur in the case of one-piece brake discs. Cyclic braking tests under extremely severe conditions were carried out using large one-piece brake discs having some hole in their flange. When the number of braking cycles was beyond 300, some tiny cracks occurring around holes were found. They grew in the radial direction of the brake discs.