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A semi-empirical index to evaluate the noise propensity of brake friction materials is introduced. The noise propensity index (NPI) is based on the ratio of surface and matrix stiffness of the friction material, fraction of high-pressure contact plateaus on the sliding surface, and standard deviation of the surface stiffness of the friction material that affect the amplitude and frequency of the stick-slip oscillation. The correlation between noise occurrence and NPI was examined using various brake linings for commercial vehicles. The results obtained from reduced-scale noise dynamometer and vehicle tests indicated that NPI is well correlated with noise propensity. The analysis of the stick-slip profiles also indicated that the surface property affects the amplitude of friction oscillation, while the mechanical property of the friction material influences the propagation of friction oscillation after the onset of vibration.

Recently, upon customer’s needs for noise-free brake, carmakers are increasingly widely installing damping kits in their braking systems. However, an installation of the damping kits may excessively increase softness in the brake system, by loosening stroke feeling of a brake pedal and increasing compressibility after durability. To find a solution to alleviate this problem, we first conducted experiments to measure compressibility of shims by varying parameters such as adhesive shims (e.g., bonding spec., steel and rubber thickness), piston’s shapes (e.g., different contact areas to the shims), and the numbers of durability. Next, we installed a brake feeling measurement system extended from a brake pedal to caliper. We then compared experimental parameters with brake feeling in a vehicle. Finally, we obtained an optimized level of brake feeling by utilizing the Design for Six Sigma (DFSS).

Professional bus drivers are highly exposed to physical fatigue and work-related injuries because driving task includes complicated actions that require a variety of ability and cause extreme concentration or strain. For this reason, there has always been some sense of concern regarding driver fatigue, especially for drivers of commercial vehicles. In this study, we have tried to analyze quantitative fatigue degree of urban bus drivers by measuring their physiological signals. The investigation is made up of the following approaches: a traditional questionnaire survey and video-ethnographic method with 4-way cameras. The close-circuit cameras are installed to observe the upper and lower body of real drivers when they are in driving or even resting. This approach can help to understand urban bus drivers' behaviors and fatigue-related issues. Based on the video-ethnographic investigation results above, we have got certain patterns of drivers.

The effects of pad properties and thermal coning of discs on high speed judder were investigated using dynamometer and vehicle tests. The friction materials of different thermal conductivities were manufactured and the discs were design-modified to control the thermal coning during braking under high speed conditions. Brake Torque Variation(BTV) was measured to evaluate the judder propensity in the dynamometer tests and the vibration on steering wheel and brake pedal was measured in the vehicle tests. The results showed that the increase of thermal conductivity of pad could not affect the judder propensity during high speed braking below 350°C of disc temperature, however better disc design reduced judder propensity due to the lower thermal deformation. Moreover, the increase of pad compressibility can reduce judder propensity due to the increase of damping capacity.

In order to reduce brake squeal noise, it is important to identify operational deflection shape (ODS) of brake disc while squeal arises. However, in the conventional modal analysis and optical measurement, it is only able to identify limited ODS because of the technical limits. This paper details the test method to identify ODS in radial and tangential as well as axial direction of a brake disc in driving condition. Vibrational signal of a rotating disc was obtained by triaxial accelerometer installed to solid type discs/cooling fins of ventilated type discs, then ODS of disc were analyzed through digital signal processing.

Recently, increasing system complexity and various customer demands result in the need for highly efficient vehicle development processes. Once the brake torque is predicted accurately during the driving scenario in the earlier stage, it will be able to prevent the changing the vehicle or brake system design to satisfy the legal regulation and customer requirement. As brake torque performance target allocate brake pad friction coefficient level and characteristic, the accurate friction coefficient prediction should be preceded for accurate prediction for brake torque. Generally, the friction coefficient of the brake pad is known to vary nonlinearly depending on the physical properties of the disc and the pad, as well as the brake disc rotational speed, the disc temperature, and the hydraulic pressure. Furthermore, it varies depending on the driving scenario even when other conditions are the same. Therefore, it is necessary to apply new methods to solve these challenges.

With the spread of new trends such as autonomous driving and vehicle subscription service, drivers may pay less attention to the maintenance of the vehicle. Brake pads being safety critical components, the wear condition of all service brakes is required by regulation to be indicated by either acoustic of optical devices or a means of visually checking the degree of brake lining wear [1]. Current application of the wear indicator in the market uses either sound generating metal strip or wire harness based pad wear sensor. The former is not effective in generating clear alarm to the driver, and the latter is not cost effective, and there is a need for more effective and low cost solution. In this paper, a pad wear monitoring system using MOC(Motor On Caliper) EPB(Electric Parking Brake) ECU is proposed. An MOC EPB is equipped with a motor, geartrain and an ECU. The motor current when applying the parking brake is influenced by the mechanical load at the brake pad side of the system.

Corrosion stiction at the contact interface between a brake friction material and a gray iron disc under the parking brake condition was investigated by evaluating the possible parameters that affect the shear force to detach the corroded interface. Using production brake friction materials, comprising non-steel and low-steel types, corrosion tests were carried out by pressing the brake pad onto the gray iron disc using a clamp at various conditions. Results showed that the shear force to detach the corroded interface tended to increase with applied pressure and corrosion time. On the other hand, porosity, acidity, and hydrophobicity of the friction material did not show a reliable correlation to the stiction force. The poor correlation of the stiction force with the friction material properties indicated that the stiction force was not determined by a single factor but governed by multiple parameters including surface contact areas and inhomogeneity of the ingredients.

The high speed continuous braking distance assessment is the worst condition for thermal fades. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between fade characteristic and friction materials & brake fluid amount for improving braking distance. So, we used the dynamometer to measure the friction coefficient, braking distance and required brake fluid amount. Through the measurements, the research was carried out as follows. First of all, we studied the influence of friction coefficient about different shapes (chamfer shape, area of the friction material, number of slots) on the same friction material. Secondly, we knew the effects of braking distance by the shape of the friction material. Through these two studies, the shape of the friction material favorable to the fade characteristics was derived. Finally, we measured the amount of required brake fluid in caliper after 10 consecutive braking cycles through Dynamometer.

Recently, there’s a massive flow of change in the automotive industry with the coming era of electric vehicles and self-driving (autonomous) vehicles. The automotive braking system field is not an exception for the change and there are not only lots of new systems being developed but also demands for researches for optimizations of conventional brake systems fitting to the newly appeared systems such as E-Booster and Electric Motor Brake (EMB) Caliper. Taking the Electric Motor Brake Caliper for example, it is considered as a very important and useful system for autonomous vehicles because the motor actuator of the caliper is much easier to control with ECUs compared to the conventional hydraulic pressure system. However, easy of control is not the only thing that excites brake system engineers.

In the latest works [12], we presented the guideline for reducing Metal pick up(MPU, the main component of disc scoring) by controlling the location of the roughness of disc, the brake pad friction coefficients and the disc slot's size. In this study, the previously studied iron transfer theory to 'Cu free' brake pad and the disc surface roughness controlling methods which are based on the mass production manufacturing process are applied. It is possible to suggest the ways to improve the scoring-free disc without reducing friction coefficient between the disc and pad, and any demerit such as increased wear and airplane noise like conventional slot discs [11].

A comparative study was carried out to investigate the DTV (disk thickness variation) behavior according to the types of brake disks (gray iron grade 250 and high-carbon gray iron grade 200, 170) with two typical friction materials (non-steel and low-steel friction materials). To evaluate DTV generation and recovery characteristics, a parasitic drag mode simulating highway driving (off-brake) and a normal braking mode simulating city traffic driving (on-brake) were used with an inertia brake dynamometer. Results showed that DTV and BTV were strongly affected by the microstructure, hardness level and distribution of the gray cast iron with the friction material types. The BTV was reduced in the friction two pairs using non-steel friction materials with high carbon grade disks and low-steel friction materials with high-carbon, low hardness disk. In particular, the pair of low-steel friction materials and high-carbon, low-hardness brake disks was more effective on DTV recovery.

In the brake system, unevenly distributed disc-pad contact pressure not only leads to a falling-off in braking feeling due to uneven wear of brake pads, but also a main cause of system instability which leads to squeal noise. For this reason there have been several attempts to measure contact pressure distribution. However, only static pressure distribution has been measured in order to estimate the actual pressure distribution. In this study a new test method is designed to quantitatively measure dynamic contact pressure distribution between disc and pad in vehicle testing. The characteristics of dynamic contact pressure distribution are analyzed for various driving conditions and pad shape. Based on those results, CAE model was updated and found to be better in detecting propensity of brake squeal.