Noise and vibration performance of automotive disk brakes with laser-machined M-shaped grooves

This work makes use of experimental and numerical studies to investigate the reduction of braking noise and vibrations of brake disks by introducing various M-shaped grooves on the brake disk frictional surfaces. Experiments with a brake test dynamometer have been carried out to compare the braking vibrations and noise of the grooved disks with that of the un-grooved disk. The experimental results demonstrate that disks with grooves significantly reduced braking vibrations and noise at both low and high frequencies, and as the initial braking temperature and braking pressure increased, the reduction effect is further enhanced. The investigation also shows the wear rates of both the grooved disks and brake pads are also significantly reduced. Thermo-mechanical coupled finite element models of the brake pads and disks with and without grooves are developed to investigate the mechanisms of the reduction of braking noise and vibrations by the introduction of grooves on the disk frictional surfaces. The numerical results show that the number of grooves plays an important role in reducing the interface surface temperatures, enhancing heat flux, reducing thermal deformation, changing the contact pressure distribution, and stabilizing the coefficients of friction of the braking sliding contacts. The thermal effects contribute to the wear reduction of both the braking disks and pads, and the reduction of braking noise and vibrations. In addition, both the finite element modal analysis and the experimental modal testing results show that surface grooves increase the modal damping ratio of the disks, which certainly plays a role on the reduction of braking noise and vibrations. This study has significance to the surface modification of brake disks in order to reduce braking noise and vibrations, as well as the wear resistance of brake disks and pads.