Carbon Ceramic Brakes
Ranked #4,864 in Cars, #250,922 overall
What Are Carbon Ceramic Brakes?
The principles of braking a car are quite simple. A set of grippy pads sit either side of a disc attached to the wheel hub, with a caliper holding them in place. When the driver hits the brake pedal hydraulic pressure pushes the caliper and squeezes the pads onto the disc. The resulting friction then slows the turning wheel, generating huge amounts of heat in the process.
For a long time now most standard cars have used steel discs made from cast iron, but technology has moved on in recent years and composite materials are now being used on more and more road cars.
So What's Different About Carbon Ceramic Brakes?
Although they are called carbon ceramic, the main ingredient is silicon carbide, a material that is extremely tough and very durable. There is some carbonfibre in the mixture to reinforce the structure of the disc, and some silicon is thrown in as well.
In much the same way as carbonfibre is formed, the disc is baked at extremely high temperature and high pressure in an oxygen-free environment. This allows the structure of the disc to bond and seal correctly.
Carbon ceramics shouldn't be confused with the pure carbon discs used in Formula 1 cars. These brakes are much more highly tuned and only work when hot, making them almost useless for normal road cars.
While it may seem high-tech, carbon technology in brakes is not new. The first carbon brakes were fitted to Concorde back in 1976, and the first carbon ceramic brakes were fitted to the French TGV high-speed train in 1988.
Why Are Carbon Ceramic Brakes So Good?
Carbon ceramic brakes offer a number of advantages over their iron counterparts. For a start they are lighter, at least 50% the weight of iron discs, so you can expect to save up to 20kg of weight on a standard car. That's a handy saving, and more importantly this is in the unspring mass of the car, which should help improve the handling and dynamics of the car.
Secondly, carbon ceramics are much better at coping with thermal energy. Whenever you stamp on the brakes of your car heat is rapidly generated in the discs, and if too much heat builds up too quickly it can limit the effectiveness of the brakes. While this isn't a problem on most cars, in high performance cars or in the track environment heat buildup can be a big issue. Carbon ceramics are much better, capable of soaking up to around 700 degrees celsius of heat without losing their efficiency - this would be around 400 degrees celsisus in iron discs.
Finally, carbon ceramic discs last much longer. While steel discs will last anything up to 40,000 miles, carbon ceramics could last over 150,000 miles. That's longer than the lifespan of most cars.
Any Downsides To Carbon Ceramics?
Then there's the problem of heat. Not too much heat, but in fact not enough heat - carbon ceramics work best when they are hot, and at the sort of temperatures that normal road driving doesn't generate. This means they arent really suitable for standard road cars, as the discs would never reach optimal temperatures to give their best performance.
So What's Next For Carbon Ceramic Brakes?
As long as the temperature requirements of carbon ceramic brakes makes them unsuitable for everyday driving, they will be unlikely to be a feature on standard road cars. Advancements may be possible in the materials used in the disc compounds, and this may help to deal with the temperature problems.
Cost may also become less of an issue as time goes by, as advances in technology may help to reduce manufacturing costs. That could be to the benefit of keen drivers as this may make carbon ceramics an affordable option on cheaper sports cars, not just the top end of the market in cars such as Ferraris and Porsches.
by DividingLine
Hi, my name's Chris and welcome to my Squidoo lens.
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