Influence of Constituents on Quasi-Static Strength of Paper-Based Friction Materials

Abstract

This paper deals with the mechanical properties of paper-based friction materials under tensile loading. In-plane tensile tests are carried out for nine kinds of friction materials in order to evaluate the mechanical properties and clarify the influence of constituents on the tensile strength and fracture toughness. The constituents of the friction materials are aramid, cellulose, carbon fiber, filler, and phenolic resin. From in-plane tensile tests the following results are obtained: (1) The stress-strain curves show the large non-linear deformation on the in-plane tensile tests with smooth specimens. The aramid and cellulose fibers are effective for improvement of the failure strain and the tensile strength, respectively. The carbon fibers are also effective to improve the Young's modulus. (2) The fracture criteria based on the net-section stress and J-integral are valid from the results of in-plane tensile tests with pre-cracked specimens. The aramid fibers are effective for improvement of the fracture toughness although the cellulose and carbon fibers have a disadvantage to improve the fracture toughness.