Automotive brake rotors are commonly made from gray cast iron (GCI). During usage, brake rotors are gradually worn off and periodically replaced. Currently, replaced brake rotors are mostly remelted to produce brand-new cast iron products, resulting in a relatively high energy consumption and carbon footprint into the environment. In addition, automotive brakes emit airborne particles. Some of the emitted particles are categorized as ultrafine, which are sized below 100 nm, leading to a series of health and environmental impacts. In this study, two surface treatment techniques are applied, i.e., high-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) and laser cladding (LC), to overlay wear-resistant coatings on conventional GCI brake rotors in order to refurbish the replaced GCI brake rotor and to avoid the remelting procedure. The two coating materials are evaluated in terms of their coefficient of friction (CoF), wear, and ultrafine particle emissions, by comparing them with a typical GCI brake rotor. The results show that the CoF of the HVOF disc is higher than those of the GCI and LC discs. Meanwhile, HVOF disc has the lowest wear rate but results in the highest wear rate on the mating brake pad material. The LC disc yields a similar wear rate as the GCI disc. The ultrafine particles from the GCI and LC discs appeared primarily in round, chunky, and flake shapes. The HVOF disc emits unique needle-shaped particles. In the ultrafine particle range, the GCI and HVOF discs generate particles that are primarily below 100 nm in the running-in period and 200 nm in the steady state. Meanwhile, the LC disc emitted particles that are primarily ∼200 nm in the entire test run. 

In this study, grey cast iron disc brake rotors are refurbished by adding a surface layer through laser cladding. Current methods to deal with replaced rotors mainly include remelting, with a minority fraction disposed in landfill. Both approaches result in a huge waste of resources and an increase in CO2 footprint. From a sustainable point of view, this study aims to evaluate the feasibility of refurbishing brake rotors by a combined environmental and tribological performance approach. A streamlined life cycle assessment is conducted to compare the environmental impacts between producing virgin grey cast iron brake rotors and refurbishing replaced brake rotors by laser cladding. It turns out that the energy consumption and CO2 footprint of the laser cladding refurbished brake rotors are 80% and 90% less than the virgin brake rotors. The results show that the refurbished brake rotor yields higher friction compared to the original cast iron utilizing the same pad material. The wear and particle emissions of the disc brake contact are in this study higher for the laser-cladded one compared to the original cast iron one.

Laser cladding is a promising surface treatment for refurbishing worn-out cast-iron brake rotors. Previous studies on laser-cladded brake rotors have demonstrated their extensively higher wear and greater airborne particle emissions, compared with traditional cast iron rotors. In order to overcome this, a commercial non-asbestos organic (NAO) brake material is tested against Fe-based laser-cladded and traditional cast-iron brake rotors. Two low-metallic brake pad materials are also tested as references. The materials’ coefficients of friction, specific wear rates and particle number concentrations are evaluated. The results indicate that the NAO brake material showed lower wear and had fewer particle emissions than the low-metallic brake materials when deployed against both cast iron and laser-cladded brake rotors. The NAO/laser-cladding friction pairing showed wear, particle concentration and fraction of fine particles (sub 1 µm) equivalent to those of the low-metallic/cast-iron friction pairing, creating significant potential for application in refurbishing worn-out cast-iron brake rotors.

Volatile emissions of vehicle brakes relate to the high temperature of the brake friction pair. However, as a passive parameter of braking applications, temperature is usually studied together with other parameters such as sliding speed and load. Heating tests that increase the friction pair temperature with an induction heater instead of friction are proposed in this study to imitate the rise in temperature in friction tests. Non-friction airborne particles produced solely by the high temperature in heating tests were studied in comparison with friction tests. The results confirmed the existence of non-friction airborne particles and they can represent about 4.5% of the total airborne particles in friction tests. The high-temperature behaviour as well as the composition of the non-friction airborne particles is also presented.

Non-exhaust wear emissions from disc brakes affect the air quality in cities throughout the world. These emissions come from the wear of the contact surfaces of both the pads and disc. The tribological and emissions performance of disc brakes strongly depend on the contact surface characteristics of the pads and discs. The surfaces of conventional pads are scorched by heating it to several hundred degrees to make the resin carbonize down to a few millimetres deep into the pad. This is done to have a shorter run-in period for new pads. It is not known how scorching will affect the amount of airborne particle emissions. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate how pad scorching influence the airborne particle emissions. This is done by comparing the pin-on-disc tribometer and inertia dyno bench emission results from a Cu-free friction material run against a grey cast iron disc. Three types of modified friction material surfaces have been tested: scorched, extra-scorched and rectified. The results show that the level of scorching strongly affects the airborne particle emissions in the initial phase of the tests. Even if the scorched layer is removed (rectified) before testing, it seems like it still has a measurable influence on the airborne particle emissions. The results from the tribometer tests are qualitatively in line with the inertia dyno bench test for about the first forty brake events; thereafter, the airborne particle emissions are higher for the scorched pads. It can be concluded that it seems that the level of scorching has an adverse influence on both the tribological performance and level of particle emissions.

Cu is required to be abated in brake pads due to its toxicity. There are on the market several Cu-free brake pads. These Cu-free brake pads are only evaluated regarding their friction and wear performance, whereas, their airborne particle emissions are not considered. A pin-on-disc tribometer is used to evaluate the friction, wear and airborne particle emission from two Cu-free commercial brake pads used in the Europe. Moreover, a commercial brake pad containing Cu is evaluated as a reference. The results indicate that Cu-free brake pads yield comparable coefficient of friction as the Cu-contained brake pad. All three brake materials result in similar wear to the mating brake rotor. Cu-free brake pads generate more airborne particles than Cu-contained brake pad.

Airborne wear particle emission has been investigated in a pin-on-disc tribometer equipped with particle analysis equipment. The pins are cut out from commercial powder metallurgy automotive brake pads as with and without copper content. The discs are cut out from a commercial grey cast iron automotive brake disc as cut out and as in addition to a laser cladded with a powder mix of Ni-self fluxing alloy + 60% spheroidized fused tungsten carbide and then fine-ground. Dry sliding wear testing runs under a contact pressure of 0.6 MPa, sliding velocity of 2 m/s and a total sliding distance of 14,400 m. The test results show both wear and particle emission improvement by using laser cladded discs. The laser cladded discs in comparison to the reference grey cast iron discs do not alter pin wear substantially but achieves halved mass loss and quartered specific wear. Comparing in the same way, the friction coefficient increases from 0.5 to 0.6, and the particle number concentration decreases from over 100 to some 70 (1/cm(3)) and the partition of particles below 7 mu m is approximately halved.

Black carbon, as a series of light-absorbing carbonaceous material, contributes significantly to current global warming. Black carbon has always been considered a product of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and vegetation. In the road transport sector, combustion exhaust is thought to be the primary source of black carbon. This study uses a pin-on-disc tribometer to simulate automotive disc brake system and investigate its black carbon emission. The results verified the existence of black carbon emission from disc brake system. Brake pad surface treatment and graphite content also have strong influence on black carbon emission of disc brake contact. A scorched brake material features lower black carbon and particulate matter emissions than non-scorched brake materials. Meanwhile, high graphite content in the brake material tends to expedite black carbon emission. Black carbon emission shows a proportional correlation with PM1 levels from disc brake system. The fraction of black carbon in PM1 depends on the surface condition and graphite content of the brake materials. Future studies on the emission levels of black carbon under different traffic conditions and morphology of non-exhaust black carbon is suggested, which is essential for the enactment of relevant legislations and reduce its impact on global warming.

Disc brake systems are widely used on commercial vehicles for braking. The brake pads are usually replaced by new ones before being totally worn out. Current methods to deal with the replaced brake pads include landfill and combustion, resulting in a huge waste of resources and increase of CO2 footprint. From a sustainable point of view, this study aims to evaluate the feasibility of recycling replaced brake pads by addressing a protocol recycling procedure. The results show that the recycled brake pads yield similar friction, wear and airborne particle emission to virgin brake pads. A streamlined life cycle assessment is conducted to compare the environmental impacts between producing virgin brake pads and recycling replaced brake pads. Energy consumption and CO2 footprint of the recycled brake pads are 36% and 34% less than virgin brake pads, indicating that recycling could be a promising method of handling replaced brake pads.

The main sources of non-exhaust particles around metro systems are the wear from wheel-rail contact, brake contact and the contact between mechanical parts in electric power systems. In order to predict the PM10 levels on underground metro platforms, the relation among time, train frequency and PM10 level should be investigated. Two types of particle emission models have previously been published to determine the PM10 level on underground train platform; these are the linear model and the conservation model. The aim of this study is to compare the results from the two models with a set of field measurements PM10. In 2016, a set of field measurements are performed on four underground metro platforms in Stockholm. The predicted PM10 values from the two models are compared with the measurement data. The accuracy of the two models is analysed and the behaviours of the two models in high and low train frequency regions are separately discussed.