Case study of accelerated wear of brake discs made of grey cast iron characterized by increased thermal stability

Abstract

In this paper, the subject of the analysis is Rotinger High Performance brake disc, characterized by increased thermal resistance, which is a result of adequate design and material solutions. However, despite declared performance, the analyzed discs suffered accelerated wear over a period of about 20 months. The aim of this study was to assess the causes of the disc failure. As a result, it was showed that the applied material solution still does not differ from standard ones. According to the authors of this paper, an appropriate procedure to improve resistance to thermal fatigue is, among others, changing the shape of graphite precipitates from flake to spheroidal.