A prototype aluminum composite brake rotor has been developed that could weigh 60 percent less than cast iron rotors, last three times as long, and could be cheap enough for the mass market.
The rotor is the result of joint research by the metal matrix composite maker REL and a team at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly). It is made from a new fiber-reinforced metal matrix composite designed for volume manufacturing applications. The researchers say the composite rotors would cut about 30 pounds overall from the average midsize sedan. They may also help reduce weight in military armored vehicles, which would help their fuel last longer in situations where fuel delivery is difficult.
An aluminum composite brake rotor that weighs 60 percent less than cast iron and lasts three times as long is expected to cut about 30 pounds from midsize sedans.
(Source: NYU-Poly)
The expense of composite brakes has limited their use to motorcycles, race cars, and high-performance sports cars. The researchers specifically set out to create a material that is easier to manufacture, and they designed the fiber reinforcements for a longer life span. Making automotive brake components more durable has been a longstanding research goal, since they must operate in an environment with tremendous temperature and pressure changes.
REL, which makes transportation and aerospace components out of metal matrix composites, received a $150,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the National Science Foundation to come up with the initial product design, the metal matrix composite material, and the manufacturing process. The NYU-Poly research team consists of Nikhil Gupta, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and students in his Composites Materials and Mechanics Lab. The team helped to develop the technology for automotive applications.
Most brake rotors are made of cast iron, a strong material that weighs a lot and does not respond well to the varying demands placed on different sections of a brake rotor. Temperature and pressure changes across the rotor's surface are major causes of wear, warp, and brake failure. To function optimally, each of the rotor's three functional sections typically requires a material that has a specific combination of strain and thermal properties.
Re: Heat Vs. Stoppability Charles Murray2/16/2012 8:38:22 PM
If the automakers aren't taking a hard look at this, I'd be shocked. Cutting 30 lbs from the weight of a mid-size sedan is a gigantic change. Engineers typically fight to cut a pound or two from their vehicles. If they can cut 10 lbs, they're heroic. Thirty is off the scales.
----------- Sadly this same way of thinking is why they went bankrupt.
------------ We have cost effective composite tech that can drop most car, SUV's weight by 50% and double their mileage. And they know it as they all have built them as showcars like the GM UltraLite. And yet they drool over a few pound savings. Not much critical thinking there.
I knew a brake job was due a while back and did a little searching as to what race cars use. I knew they would completely fry a steel rotor and formula 1 would melt it. Unfortunatly these seem to be custom built. The only thing I think might be keeping them out of non racing cars is that they don't stop that all that well when braking from low speeds.
I've used aluminum rotors on a race car. I won't ever do it again. The coefficient of thermal expansion is much greater than steel. This means that the rotor heats up and grows, diminishing the clearance between the rotor and caliper until the rotor actually grinds against the caliper (I know, I know... you can always design it with more clearance to compensate. But it is not a drop in replacement at that point). Secondly, Aluminum gets really weak as it gets hot and will fall apart under high mechanical and thermal load. This is exactly what happened to me (lots of little melted aluminum chunks all over the track and my car). Steel, titanium and Carbon can glow red hot and still function as a brake rotor, Aluminum can not.
grand, thanks for your comments. This is not aluminum but an aluminum composite. That fact, plus the fact that the composite includes ceramic, makes me wonder whether one of the reasons for the ceramic is to lower heat, especially since the company developing the material has experience making similar composites for NASA for extreme temperature apps, as they describe here
Ann, I understand that this is Aluminum Composite but that doesn't change the aluminum part very much. This company's own website http://www.relinc.net/Attachments/MotorcycleBrake.pdf states that the brakes can NOT run as hot as a steel rotor.
Materials Primer - Melting Points:
2024 Aluminum - 502C
4130 Steel - 1432C
6Al4V Titanium - 1604C
Obviously we don't run these things right up to the melting point, but this gives us a clear view of how much heat we can dissipate from a material. If I can run a material 3 times hotter, I can make it 3 times smaller.
grand, I'm aware of the fact that this stuff doesn't run as hot as steel, but wanted to make sure you knew it was a composite. The main benefit the research is aimed at here is reducing weight, not size. I'm not surprised to hear that aluminum can be a problem in race cars. The vehicles this material targets are consumer cars and military transport vehicles.
Reducing car weight is more difficult than it looks. Lighter materials of the same strength are usually more costly. Brake disks are an example where several lighter materials exist, but each currently comes with negatives. Cost for some, limited max temperatures for others. Downsizing is possible and is currently being done, but many buyers stubbornly insist on being able to carry a family in comfort. The best approach seems to be a holistic approach, which is well underway. This, too, is costly, requiring a coordinated design, development, and manufacturing effort with technical support from suppliers. Those efforts are some of the reasons that car weight is not dramatically falling. But progress, though slow, is continuing and new cars now weigh considerably less than some of their forebearers.
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