To study the friction and wear performance of carbon fiber reinforced friction materials under different working conditions, paper-based friction materials with different fibers were prepared. Experiments on the SAE#2 test bench were conducted to study the infectors including friction torques, surface temperature, coefficient of friction (COF), and surface morphologies. The results were analyzed, which indicated that the carbon fiber reinforced friction material could provide a higher friction torque and a lower temperature rising rate under the applied high pressure and high rotating speed conditions. As the pressure increased from 1 MPa to 2.5 MPa, the friction torque of plant fiber reinforced material increased by 150%, the friction torque of carbon fiber reinforced material increased by 400%, and the maximum temperature of plant fiber reinforced and carbon fiber reinforced material reached the highest value at 1.5 MPa. Thus, carbon fibers not only improved the COF and friction torque performance but also had advantages in avoiding thermal failure. Meanwhile, carbon fiber reinforced friction materials can provide a more stable COF as its variable coefficient (α) only rose from 38.18 to 264.62, from 1 MPa to 2.5 MPa, which was much lower than the natural fiber reinforced friction materials. Simultaneously, due to the good dispersion and excellent mechanical properties of PAN chopped carbon fibers, fewer pores formed on the initial surface, which improved the high wear resistance, especially in the intermedia disc.
Keywords: SAE#2 test bench; carbon fibers; paper-based friction materials.