Abstract:
Hot molding is one of the most important manufacturing processes of friction materials in automotive brake system because it directly impacts on physical and mechanical properties which affects brake vibration and noise. The purpose of this work is to study the effects of hot molding conditions on porosity, compressibility, modulus, and hardness of friction materials. Reaction temperature of phenolic resin was characterized by DSC to designate the temperature range for the experiment. The hot molding parameters i.e. temperature, pressure and holding time, were varied in the hot molding process using by Box-Behnken method. The property-molding parameter relationship was analyzed using ANOVA and multiple regression analysis. Correlations among compressibility, modulus, hardness and porosity were also considered based on natural frequencies of the brake pad test pieces. Brake pad microstructures with different porosity levels were characterized using SEM technique. The results showed that only porosity directly related to natural frequency of the brake pads. Good agreement between experimental result and model proved that porosity was the most appropriate variable in order to investigate optimum condition in hot molding process. Molding pressure gave the highest influence on porosity, followed by molding temperature and holding time, respectively. The porosity of 14.3±0.6% showed the lowest vibration and noise propensity. According to response surface methodology, the optimum molding temperature of 165 oC, molding pressure of 300 kg/cm2, and holding time of 2.43 min provided lowest vibration.