Contact and wear of paper-based friction materials for oil-immersed clutches—wear model for composite materials

Paper-based friction materials are widely used for oil-immersed clutches in automatic transmissions for passenger cars. It is known that repetition of engagements of the clutches causes wear of the friction materials leading to running-in with an increase in contact area. Observation of the contact of a typical paper-based friction material has been made by contact microscopy using the reflection of polarized light. The results have shown that contact is made at the top of its particulate and fibrous constituents, and comparison with the results of laser microscopy has revealed that the contact area observed by the contact microscopy is the contour contact area. An analysis has been made to describe this behavior by employing a mechanical model in which spherical and columnar asperities are supported by an elastic halfspace and wear under the loads they support. Analytical results describe the observed change in the contour contact area and demonstrate applicability of the model to wear of composite materials.