Temperature during Repetitive Short-Term Operation of a Brake with Functionally Graded Friction Element

The object of study is the temperature of a braking system, operating in repetitive short-term (RST) mode. One element of the considered friction pair is made of a functionally gradient material (FGM), and the other of a homogeneous material. To determine the temperature on the friction surfaces of both elements, the previously obtained, exact solution of the boundary value problem of heat conduction was adopted, with account of the heat generation due to the friction. A calculation scheme was proposed that takes into consideration thermal sensitivity of materials and variations of the friction coefficient under the influence of temperature. Calculations were performed for two-component FGM (ZrO₂-Ti-6Al-4V) in combination with gray cast iron (ChNMKh). It was found that for selected friction pair materials, consideration of their thermal sensitivity reduces the time of braking and the value of temperature achieved on the friction surfaces. At the same time, the whole process was characterized by a good stability of braking with a slight decrease in efficiency in each subsequent cycle.