An investigation into the physical, mechanical, tribology, thermal and durability performance of commercial brake material for rail transportation

Brake friction materials play a crucial role to enable effective deceleration on the moving rail vehicle. Unfortunately, particulate matters generated by brake wear as well as during the brake manufacturing process are affecting the environment and human health. Due to this, the development of green friction material is important to improve environmental health, safety, and human health. To develop new environmental-friendly friction materials, it is important to understand the commercial brake block material components and their tribological performance. Characterisation techniques such as hardness test, pin-on-disc wear test, durability test, thermogravimetric analysis, morphology, density and porosity were performed on the commercial brake block, the obtained results were then compared with the existing literature. The experiment results showed that the performance of the commercial sample is superior to the available green friction composite materials. This indicates the necessity of a new formulation for the development of green friction brake block material that can give better or similar performance as commercial material. The results from this article can be referenced to develop the new formulation.