Fras-le Presents Research in the 37th Annual SAE Brake Colloquium & Exhibition

Fras-le's culture of investing in research and development for high-technology solutions is again recognized on an international scale. The company is in a select group of world-class brands that will present in the prestigious 37th Annual SAE Brake Colloquium & Exhibition. The world's leading event for expected trends in the friction and motion control material industry, whose Brazilian edition took place in May in Caxias do Sul (RS) and had active participation of Randon's Auto Part Division, will now be held on American soil, September 22-25 in Orlando, Florida, United States.
 
The work developed by Fras-le consists of a new formulation strategy for the development of commercial copper-free brake pads. The presentation by Engineer Francisco Jardim, who is part of the team of researchers alongside Natália Lorandi and Ricardo Lamb, is scheduled for the morning of September 24th. The full program and details of the event can be obtained at sae.org/brake.

The need for the replacement of copper in brake pads, as imposed by an American law in the recent year, generates a challenge for the entire industry. Fras-le acted before the law takes effect in 2025, providing the elimination of asbestos in the manufacturing of products. They were able to seek a solution by means of its advanced laboratory and research team.

"Copper plays an important role in braking performance, due to the thermal and tribologic characteristics it gives to the braking pad. Copper contributes to the generation of a third stable body, which leads to a controlled renewal of the surface. Copper blends give friction stability to the pad, wear and tear reduction, good recovery and heat dissipation, among other advantages. In view of the foregoing, the replacement of this material becomes an extremely difficult task for friction engineers and manufacturers", explains Alexandre Casaril.

According to Casaril, the mere replacement of copper for other elements proved ineffective, so a new strategy was adopted to develop a copper-free formulation. Therefore, creating a new approach about the interaction of lubricants and abrasives with other formulation components, seeking to achieve the same performance level of the copper-based formulations.

"What we are going to show now is that we have succeeded in developing a new high-performance, copper-free friction material. The results were verified by means of lab tests with a dynamometer, on the CTR (Randon Technological Center) track tests and field evaluations in Brazil and USA. They showed that the new material has stable friction characteristics and braking capacity equivalent to those of the previous generation with copper. Apart from that, a stable and uniform film was formed in the rotor surface, leading to less wear and tear of the friction pair, thus maximizing the durability of pads and disks, while minimizing the environmental impact", concludes Casaril.

Image: Tayeb Mezahdia by Pixabay