Thermophysical Properties of Automotive Metallic Brake Disk Materials

Abstract

The temperature distribution, the thermal deformation, and the thermal stress of automotive brake disks have quite close relations with car safety; therefore, much research in this field has been performed. However, successful and satisfactory results have not been obtained because the temperature-dependent thermophysical properties of brake disk materials are not sufficiently known. In this study, the thermophysical properties (thermal diffusivity, the specific heat, and the coefficient of thermal expansion) of three kinds of iron alloy series brake disk materials, FC250, FC170, and FCD50, and two kinds of aluminum alloy series brake disk materials, Al MMC and A356, were measured in the temperature range from room temperature to 500 °C, and the thermal conductivity was calculated using the measured thermal diffusivity, specific heat capacity, and density. As expected, the results show that the two series have significant differences in respect of the thermophysical properties, and to reduce the thermal deformation of the brake disk, the aluminum alloys with a high thermal conductivity and the iron alloys with low thermal expansion are recommended.