Tribological behavior of three-dimensional needled carbon/silicon carbide and carbon/carbon brake pair

Tribological properties of C/SiC-C/C pair have been systematically investigated in dry, fresh water, sea water and static conditions. The static coefficient of friction (COF) has a great increase compared with C/C-C/C. Also, C/SiC-C/C is less susceptible to fresh water and sea water. The friction mechanism is a synergism of plough effect and surface molecular interactions. Plough effect ensures better friction properties than C/C-C/C. For C/SiC-C/C, C/SiC disk is almost not worn, allowing C/SiC disk for brake assembly to be thinner. With same size and amount of disks, brake assembly using C/SiC-C/C pair can be much lighter than that using C/SiC-C/SiC pair. In conclusion, C/SiC-C/C pair can well meet the requirements of high performance and light weight of aircraft brake applications.