Wear Modalities and Mechanisms of the Mining Non-asbestos Composite Brake Material

The mining brake material is generally made of composite materials and its wear has important influences on the braking performance of disc brakes. In order to improve the braking reliability of mine hoisters, this paper did some tribological investigations on the mining brake material to reveal its wear modalities and mechanisms. The mining non-asbestos brake shoe and 16Mn steel were selected as braking pairs and tested on a pad-on-disc friction tester. And a SEM was used to observe the worn surface of the brake shoe. It is shown that the non-asbestos brake material has mainly five wear modalities: adhesive wear, abrasive wear, cutting wear, fatigue wear and high heat wear. At the front period of a single braking the wear modality is mainly composed of some light mechanical wear such as abrasive, cutting and point adhesive. With the temperature rising at the back period it transforms to some heavy mechanical wear such as piece adhesive and fatigue. While in several repeated brakings once the surface temperature rises beyond the thermal-decomposition point of the bonding material, the strong destructive high heat wear takes leading roles on the surface. And a phenomenon called friction catastrophe (FC) occurs easily, which as a result causes a braking failure. It is considered that the friction heat has important influences on the wear modalities of the brake material. And the reduction of friction heat must be an effective technical method for decreasing wear and avoiding braking failures.