Brake Wear Particles Research Articles

Traffic tracers in a suburban location in northern Spain: relationship between carbonaceous fraction and metals.

PM10 and black smoke were monitored at a suburban sampling station located in the northern Spanish city of Gijón. Thirty-two metals and total carbon (TC) (i.e., organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC)) were analyzed over a year. The study of air-mass origin based on 5-day back trajectories was carried out to assess its influence on the recovery data. Different strategies were implemented to infer the influence of traffic in the area. On average, TC accounted for 29 % of the PM10 fraction, with OC forming 77 % of this TC. The influence of traffic was clearly reduced during intense Atlantic advection episodes, when OC and EC decreased up to 0.39 and 0.22 μg C/m3, respectively. In contrast, the highest values were reported during regional episodes, exceeding 10 μg C/m3 of OC and 2 μg C/m3 of EC. The correlation between EC and OC was found to notably improve when considering the days with high traffic flow (from R2 = 0.46 to R2 = 0.74). This pattern was also reproduced by black smoke and EC (from R2 = 0.49 to R2 = 0.59). Cu and Sn were found to be reliable traffic tracers given their high dependence on EC (R2 = 0.82 and R2 = 0.79, respectively). Nevertheless, Sn, Ba, and Sb showed a better correlation with Cu than EC, suggesting a common origin. In the case of Sn, R2 improved from 0.79 to 0.91. The Cu/Sb ratio had a mean value of 6.6 which agrees with diagnostic criterions for brake wear particles. The relationships and ratios between EC, Cu, Sb, Sn, Ba, and Bi pointed out to non-exhaust emissions, playing a significant role in the chemical composition of PM10. Brake wear was presented as the most likely origin for Cu, Sb, and Sn.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11356-015-5955-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Detection of brake wear aerosols by aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Abstract Brake dust particles were characterised using an Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (ATOFMS) operated using two inlet configurations, namely the aerodynamic lens (AFL) inlet and countersunk nozzle inlet. Laboratory studies show that dust particles are characterised by mass spectra containing ions deriving from Fe and Ba and although highly correlated to each other, the Fe and Ba signals were mostly detected using the nozzle inlet with relatively high laser desorption energies. When using the AFL, only [56Fe] and [−88FeO2] ions were observed in brake dust spectra generated using lower laser desorption pulse energies, and only above 0.75 mJ was the [138Ba] ion detected. When used with the preferred nozzle inlet configuration, the [−88FeO2] peak was considered to be the more reliable tracer peak, because it is not present in other types of dust (mineral, tyre, Saharan etc). As shown by the comparison with ambient data from a number of locations, the aerodynamic lens is not as efficient in detecting brake wear particles, with less than 1% of sampled particles attributed to brake wear. Five field campaigns within Birmingham (background, roadside (3) and road tunnel) used the nozzle inlet and showed that dust particles (crustal and road) accounted for between 3.1 and 65.9% of the particles detected, with the remaining particles being made up from varying percentages of other constituents.

Airborne brake wear particle emission due to braking and accelerating

Abstract The emission of airborne brake wear particles due to non-asbestos organic friction material was studied for two passenger cars and a middle class truck. The emission of airborne brake particulates was tested with a brake dynamometer with a constant volume sampling system and real-time mass measurements were made. The particles emissions under constant driving were calculated in terms of initial wheel speed and deceleration. Time series mass emissions were obtained by real-time dust monitors for PM2.5 and PM10 (i.e., particles with a 50% cutoff aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 and 10 μm, respectively). The airborne brake wear particles emission occurred at deceleration and acceleration, suggesting resuspension of wear particles from friction on the surface of brakes and grooves at acceleration. The resuspended brake wear particles, whose emission during acceleration tended to increase with the initial speed, significantly contributed to the total emission. Therefore, they must be included in emission measurements of PM2.5 and PM10 during brake abrasion tests. Further measurements under a wide range of driving conditions, such as tailpipe emission test cycles, are required to obtain national and regional specific emission parameters for the development of inventories.

Physico-Chemical Characterization and Oxidative Reactivity Evaluation of Aged Brake Wear Particles

Brake wear dust is a significant component of traffic emissions and has been linked to adverse health effects. Previous research found a strong oxidative stress response in cells exposed to freshly generated brake wear dust. We characterized aged dust collected from passenger vehicles, using microscopy and elemental analyses. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was measured with acellular and cellular assays using 2′7-dichlorodihydrofluorescein dye. Microscopy analyses revealed samples to be heterogeneous particle mixtures with few nanoparticles detected. Several metals, primarily iron and copper, were identified. High oxygen concentrations suggested that the elements were oxidized. ROS were detected in the cell-free fluorescent test, while exposed cells were not dramatically activated by the concentrations used. The fact that aged brake wear samples have lower oxidative stress potential than fresh ones may relate to the highly oxidized or aged state of these particles, as well as their larger size a...

Brake Wear Particle Size and Shape Analysis of Non-Asbestos Organic (NAO) and Semi Metallic Brake Pad

Brake wear particles resulting from friction between the brake pad and disc are common in brake system. In this work brake wear particles were analyzed based on the size and shape to investigate the effects of speed and load applied to the generation of brake wear particles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was used to identify the size, shape and element compositions of these particles. Two types of brake pads were studied which are non-asbestos organic and semi metallic brake pads. Results showed that the size and shape of the particles generatedvary significantly depending on the applied brake load, and less significantly on brake disc speed. The wear particle becomes bigger with increasing applied brake pressure. The wear particle size varies from 300 nm to 600 µm, and contained elements such as carbon, oxygen, magnesium, aluminum, sulfur and iron.

Brake wear particle emissions: a review.

Traffic-related sources have been recognized as a significant contributor of particulate matter particularly within major cities. Exhaust and non-exhaust traffic-related sources are estimated to contribute almost equally to traffic-related PM10 emissions. Non-exhaust particles can be generated either from non-exhaust sources such as brake, tyre, clutch and road surface wear or already exist in the form of deposited material at the roadside and become resuspended due to traffic-induced turbulence. Among non-exhaust sources, brake wear can be a significant particulate matter (PM) contributor, particularly within areas with high traffic density and braking frequency. Studies mention that in urban environments, brake wear can contribute up to 55 % by mass to total non-exhaust traffic-related PM10 emissions and up to 21 % by mass to total traffic-related PM10 emissions, while in freeways, this contribution is lower due to lower braking frequency. As exhaust emissions control become stricter, relative contributions of non-exhaust sources—and therefore brake wear—to traffic-related emissions will become more significant and will raise discussions on possible regulatory needs. The aim of the present literature review study is to present the state-of-the-art of the different aspects regarding PM resulting from brake wear and provide all the necessary information in terms of importance, physicochemical characteristics, emission factors and possible health effects.

Characterization of non-exhaust coarse and fine particles from on-road driving and laboratory measurements

We investigated the physical and chemical properties of non-exhaust coarse and fine particles generated by on-road driving and in a laboratory setting using a mobile sampling system. The on-road driving and laboratory measurements performed under constant speed driving revealed that particles produced by tire wear had a size distribution in the range of 2–3μm, while roadway particles (RWPs) measured behind the front tire during on-road driving largely comprised crustal materials such as road surface wear particles and road dust as well as tire wear particles (TWPs). The mode diameters of particles obtained from on-road driving under cornering conditions were similar to those obtained under constant speed conditions, but with higher concentrations of crustal elements. Under braking conditions, the particulate matter (PM) concentrations of brake wear particles (BWPs) sampled near the brake pad increased significantly and were much higher than the concentration of RWPs during deceleration, indicating that BWPs are one of the main sources of non-exhaust emissions. In addition, BWPs observed from on-road and laboratory measurements had a broader PM size range (1–10μm) than RWPs. Size-segregated chemical analysis of PM samples indicated that the concentrations of Fe and Ca were highest in the coarse fraction emitted under constant speed and cornering conditions, while Fe, Ba, and Ti were most abundant in the fine fraction emitted during braking events.

차량 주행 과정에서 타이어와 도로의 마찰에 의해서 발생하는 도로입자의 특성연구

A large fraction of urban <TEX>$PM_{10}$</TEX> concentrations is due to non-exhaust traffic emissions including road dust, tire wear particles, and brake lining particles. Although potential health and environmental impacts associated with tire wear debris have been increased, few environmentally and biologically relevant studies of actual tire wear debris have been conducted. Tire wear particles (TWP) are released from the tire tread as a result of the interaction between the tire and the pavement. Roadway particles (RP), meanwhile, are particles on roads composed of a mixture of elements from tires, pavements, fuels, brakes, and environmental dust. The main objective of present study is to identify the contribution of tires to the generation of RP and to assess the potential environmental and health impacts of this contribution. First, a mobile measurement system was constructed and used to measure the roadway particles on asphalt road according to vehicle speed. The equipment of the mobile system provides <TEX>$PM_{10}$</TEX> concentrations by Dusttrak DRX and number density & size distribution measurements of fine and ultra-fine particles by a fast mobility particle sizer (FMPS) and an aerosol particle sizer (APS). When traveling on an asphalt road at constant speed, there is a clear tendency for PM10 concentration to increase slightly in accordance with an increase in the vehicle speed. It was also found that considerable brake wear particles and particles from tire/road interface were generated by rapid deceleration of the vehicle. The morphology and elements of the roadway particles were also analyzed using SEM-EDX technique.

실제 도로 주행과정에서 타이어와 도로의 마찰에 의해서 발생하는 미세입자의 특성연구

A large fraction of urban concentrations is due to non-exhaust traffic emissions including road dust, tire wear particles, and brake lining particles. Although potential health and environmental impacts associated with tire wear debris have increased, few environmentally and biologically relevant studies of actual tire wear debris have been conducted. Tire wear particles (TWP) are released from the tire tread as a result of the interaction between the tire and the pavement. Roadway particles (RP), meanwhile, are particles on roads composed of a mixture of elements from tires, pavements, fuels, brakes, and environmental dust. The main objective of present study is to identify the contribution of tires to the generation of RP and to assess the potential environmental and health impacts of this contribution. First, a mobile measurement system was constructed and used to measure the RP on asphalt roads according to vehicle speed. The equipment of the mobile system provides concentrations by Dusttrak DRX and number density & size distribution measurements of fine and ultra-fine particles by a fast mobility particle sizer (FMPS) and an aerosol particle sizer (APS). When traveling on an asphalt road at constant speed, there is a clear tendency for concentration to increase slightly in accordance with an increase in the vehicle speed. It was also found that considerable brake wear particles and particles from tire/road interface were generated by rapid deceleration of the vehicle. As a result, the concentration and particle number of ultra-fine particles were measured to be very high.

A pin-on-disc simulation of airborne wear particles from disc brakes

A novel test method was used to study the concentration and size distribution of airborne wear particles from disc brake materials. A pin-on-disc tribometer equipped with particle counting instruments was used as test equipment. Material from four different non-asbestos organic (NAO) pads and four different low metallic (LM) pads were tested against material from grey cast iron rotors. The results indicate that the low metallic pads cause more wear to the rotor material than the NAO pads, resulting in higher concentrations of airborne wear particles. Although there are differences in the measured particle concentrations, similar size distributions were obtained. Independent of pad material, the characteristic particle number distributions of airborne brake wear particles have maxima around 100, 280, 350, and 550 nm.

Toxic effects of brake wear particles on epithelial lung cells in vitro

BackgroundFine particulate matter originating from traffic correlates with increased morbidity and mortality. An important source of traffic particles is brake wear of cars which contributes up to 20% of the total traffic emissions. The aim of this study was to evaluate potential toxicological effects of human epithelial lung cells exposed to freshly generated brake wear particles.ResultsAn exposure box was mounted around a car's braking system. Lung cells cultured at the air-liquid interface were then exposed to particles emitted from two typical braking behaviours („full stop“ and „normal deceleration“). The particle size distribution as well as the brake emission components like metals and carbons was measured on-line, and the particles deposited on grids for transmission electron microscopy were counted. The tight junction arrangement was observed by laser scanning microscopy. Cellular responses were assessed by measurement of lactate dehydrogenase (cytotoxicity), by investigating the production of reactive oxidative species and the release of the pro-inflammatory mediator interleukin-8. The tight junction protein occludin density decreased significantly (p < 0.05) with increasing concentrations of metals on the particles (iron, copper and manganese, which were all strongly correlated with each other). Occludin was also negatively correlated with the intensity of reactive oxidative species. The concentrations of interleukin-8 were significantly correlated with increasing organic carbon concentrations. No correlation was observed between occludin and interleukin-8, nor between reactive oxidative species and interleukin-8.ConclusionThese findings suggest that the metals on brake wear particles damage tight junctions with a mechanism involving oxidative stress. Brake wear particles also increase pro-inflammatory responses. However, this might be due to another mechanism than via oxidative stress.

Identification of brake wear particles and derivation of a quantitative tracer for brake dust at a major road

Traffic-generated air pollutant emissions can be classified into exhaust and non-exhaust emissions. Increased attention is focussing on non-exhaust emissions as exhaust emissions are progressively limited by regulations. To characterise metal-rich emission from abrasion processes, size-segregated analysis of atmospheric aerosol particles sampled with micro-orifice uniform deposit impactors (MOUDI) in March 2007 in London was performed. The samples were collected at a roadside and a background site and were analysed for Al, Ba, Cu, Fe, Sb, Ti, V, Zn, Ca 2+, K +, Mg 2+, Na +, and NH 4 +. Most components showed a clear roadside increment, which was evident as a higher mass concentration and a change in the size distribution. In particular, Fe, Cu, Ba, and Sb correlated highly, indicative of a common traffic-related source. Using complementary information on the fleet composition, vehicle number and average speed, the brake wear emission was calculated using the EMEP/CORINAIR emission database. The total PM 10 and barium emission of the traffic was determined by ratio to NO x whose source strength was estimated from published emission factors. Barium was found to comprise 1.1% of brake wear (PM 10) particles from the traffic fleet as a whole, allowing its use as a quantitative tracer of brake wear emissions at other traffic-influenced sites.

Wear mechanism in automotive brake materials, wear debris and its potential environmental impact

A model semi-metallic brake lining was subjected to full-scale automotive brake dynamometer tests. The structural properties and surface topography of brake linings were analyzed at different stages of wear testing and correlated to frictional performance. Characteristics of released wear particles were also addressed. A combination of abrasive and adhesive wear with oxidative processes dominated the friction process. Formation of a friction layer adhering to the friction surfaces of pads and discs is the major feature responsible for friction performance. Characteristics of the friction layer depend mostly on surface temperature, normal pressure, and sliding speed. It is a newly formed sintered composite matter consisting of a mixture of wear particulates. Wear rates and friction levels depend on chemistry, structure and hardness of the friction layer covering the surface of a pad or a disc; however, there is no simple Archard-type relationship between wear and measured hardness. Wear debris generated during the dynamometer tests was collected from containers placed under the brake inside dynamometer chamber. The collected debris was compared with ball-milled particles from identical brake lining. It is necessary to combine several analytical methods to characterize wear particles properly. The presence of copper and iron oxides as well as carbonaceous components is typical for all collected debris samples. Chemistry of wear debris resembles chemistry of the friction layer. Composition, mutagenic potency and pulmonary toxicity of wear debris and ball-milled particles were also analyzed. Mutagenic potency of initial friction composite and wear particles was evaluated by two in vitro bacterial microbioassays (SOS Chromotest, Ames test). Obtained results show potency of wear particles for interacting with DNA after metabolic activation, which indicates the presence of indirect mutagens. The pulmonary toxicity test on rats revealed an acute response of the lung tissue to the ball-milled particles. Further research is necessary to address the role of brake wear particles and potential impact of sub-chronic exposure to wear debris.

Cardiopulmonary Responses of Intratracheally Instilled Tire Particles and Constituent Metal Components

Tire and brake wear particles contain transition metals, and contribute to near-road PM. We hypothesized that acute cardiopulmonary injury from respirable tire particles (TP) will depend on the amount of soluble metals. Respirable fractions of two types of TP (TP1 and TP2) were analyzed for water and acid-leachable metals using ICP-AES. Both TP types contained a variety of transition metals, including zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), aluminum, and iron. Zn and Cu were detected at high levels in water-soluble fractions (TP2 > TP1). Male Wistar Kyoto rats (12–14 wk) were intratracheally instilled, in the first study, with saline, TP1 or TP2 (5 mg/kg), and in the second study, with soluble Zn, Cu (0.5 μ mol/kg), or both. Pulmonary toxicity and cardiac mitochondrial enzymes were analyzed 1 d, 1 wk, or 4 wk later for TP and 4 or 24 h later for metals. Increases in lavage fluid markers of inflammation and injury were observed at d 1 (TP2 > TP1), but these changes reversed by wk 1. No effects on cardiac enzymes were noted with either TP. Exposure of rats to soluble Zn and Cu caused marked pulmonary inflammation and injury but temporal differences were apparent (Cu effects peaked at 4 h and Zn at 24 h). Instillation of Zn, Cu, and Zn+ Cu decreased the activity of cardiac aconitase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase, cytochrome-c-oxidase and superoxide dismutase suggesting mitochondrial oxidative stress. The observed acute pulmonary toxicity of TP could be due to the presence of water soluble Zn and Cu. At high concentrations these metals may induce cardiac oxidative stress.

A revised estimate of copper emissions from road transport in UNECE-Europe and its impact on predicted copper concentrations

Comparisons of measured and model-predicted atmospheric copper concentrations show a severe underestimation of the observed concentrations by the models. This underestimation may be (partly) due to underestimated emissions of copper to air. Since the phase out of asbestos brake lining material, the composition of brake lining material has changed and may contain up to ∼15% copper. This makes brake wear from vehicles potentially an important source of atmospheric (particulate) copper concentrations. In this paper, we reassess the copper emissions due to exhaust emissions and brake wear from road transport. Overall, our reassessments result in an estimate of total copper emission to air in UNECE-Europe of 4.0–5.5 ktonnes yr −1, which is substantially higher than the previous estimate of 2.8 ktonnes yr −1. Copper concentrations over Europe are calculated with the LOTOS-EUROS model using the revised emission data as model input. The results show that the revised emission estimates are a major step towards gap closure of predicted versus observed copper concentrations in ambient air. Brake wear emissions may be responsible for 50–75% of the total copper emissions to air for most of Western Europe. The hypothesis that road transport is an important source of copper emissions is tested and confirmed by (1) reviewing available literature data of chemically speciated PM data from road tunnel studies and (2) the gradient observed in copper concentrations from ambient PM monitoring going from rural sites to street stations. The literature review and observational data suggest that the majority of the emitted PM10 brake wear particles is in the PM2.5–10 size range. The results of this study indicate that modification of brake lining composition is an important mitigation option to reduce copper exposure of the population in Western Europe.