Frictional Wear and Thermal Fatigue Behaviours of Biomimetic Coupling Materials for Brake Drums

Abstract In order to enhance frictional wear resistance and thermal fatigue resistance of brake drums, two kinds of biomimetic coupling materials are prepared by laser surface melting and laser coating technology respectively. These materials are all compounded by base metal and biomimetic coupling units, and have different coupling characteristics, such as the variation of the unit shape, different microstructures and hardness, different chemical compositions of units. The frictional wear resistance and thermal fatigue resistance of biomimetic coupling materials and gray cast iron used for brake drum are compared. The results indicate that frictional wear resistance and thermal fatigue resistance of biomimetic coupling sample is better than that of untreated sample, and among the biomimetic samples, laser coating treated sample has superior resistance to wear and thermal fatigue comparing with laser melting treated sample.