DESIGN OF A LIGHTWEIGHT AUTOMOTIVE BRAKE DISC USING FINITE-ELEMENT AND TAGUCHI TECHNIQUES

Aluminium metal matrix composite brake discs offer significant weight advantages compared with the traditional cast iron rotor but have a mu ch lower maximum operating temperature. In this study, a finite elemen t model of an existing brake design is firstly used to predict the pea k disc temperatures during two critical brake tests for both cast iron and an aluminium metal matrix composite alternative. A Taguchi analys is is then applied, enabling all the critical design and material fact ors of an aluminium metal matrix composite rotor to be considered coll ectively. Based on the results of this exercise, a parametric sensitiv ity study is carried out to define suitable design-material combinatio ns for a prototype lightweight front brake disc to be used on small to medium passenger vehicles.