Designing Brake Fluids for Modern Cars; Key Aspects

The advancement of technology in almost all areas such as materials, electronics, communication, Information Technology, machines, electronics, instrumentation, control systems, etc. made it possible to have the modern cars of the type that were not possible decades ago. There exist materials today that are much lighter than the metals but at the same time stronger than metals. This helped in attaining higher speeds on the one hand and much superior fuel economy than in the past on the other hand. Availability of efficient engines that can last longer and perform much better than the conventional ones is no longer an issue now. Efforts to use alternative fuels that are environment-friendly as well cost-effective are also successful. Modern cars therefore are much superior to the ones manufactured two decades ago. State-of-the-art of technologies today are in use in designing newer models with attractive features for the consumers to have many more options to choose from. While employing advanced technologies, the safety of the vehicle as well as of its occupants is never out of sight by the designers of cars. In fact, adoption of improvement of any type in cars are acceptable only if the safety factors are in order. One of the critical components of a modern car is its braking system, which is responsible for safe driving even with higher speed levels. The most essential part of advanced braking system is the braking fluid. Without the availability of novel, unique and specialty formulations of brake fluids, it will not be possible to have further improvements of any type in cars. As always is the case, the need for improved cars will never end in spite of having achieved so much that one could not envisage some decades ago. Thus, even after having brake fluids of higher grades at hand, researchers and technologists continue to look for something better and improved ones to meet the requirements of the advanced braking systems. The present paper deals with various aspects associated with the designing of better brake fluids. It discusses different criteria based on which one selects the ingredients for brake fluids. It highlights the key aspects that must keep in mind while designing newer brake fluids.