Cryogenic treatment

of disc brakes
INTRODUCTION
A cryogenic treatment is the process of treating work pieces
to cryogenic temperatures (i.e. below 190C) in order to
remove residual stresses and improve wear resistance on
steels.
As part of a safety critical system in passenger vehicles, disc
brakes and the materials used must meet a no. of
requirements. They must have high thermal resilience, a
stable coefficient of friction with temperature to avoid brake
fade, provide a reproducible uniform response as well as
wear uniformly during their service life.
The cryogenic treatment is done on disc brakes so that to
improve them by making them more uniformly hard so they
wear less and last longer or perform better at high
temperature/loading.
 LITERATURE SURVEY
Author Journal Result

R.F.Barron Cryogenic treatment of The tool steels exhibited

metals to improve wear a significant increase in
resistance. wear resistance after
the soak at 77 K and a
less
dramatic increase after
the 189 K soak.

J. D Darwin, D.M.Lal, Optimization of CT for a commercial

G.Nagarajan cryogenic treatment to piston ring, made
maximize the wear up of 18% Cr martensitic
resistance of 18% stainless steel to obtain
crmartesitic stainless maximum wear
steel resistance.
Author Journal Results

R.L. Hecht, R.B. The effect of graphite Thermal diffusivity is

Dinwiddie, H. Wang flake morphology on the influenced by changes in
thermal diffusivity of chemical composition of
gray cast irons used for gray cast iron, and that
automotive brake discs a roughly linearly
increasing relationship
exists between room
temperature diffusivity
and carbon equivalent
(CE) within the carbon
range of gray cast iron.
OBJECTIVES
To study the following parameters:
1. Wear rate of DCT and non-DCT brakes
2. Macro and micro hardness of DCT and
non-DCT brakes
3. Roughness (surface and worn) of DCT and
non-DCT brakes
4. Microstructural changes of DCT and non-
DCT brakes
and thereby compare the performance of
DCT to non-DCT disc brakes.
CRYOGENIC TREATMENT
PROCESS
Cryotreatment involves lowering the material to sub-zero temperatures
and holding or soaking for a defined period of time before raising the
material back to ambient temperature. The objective of cryotreatment
is therefore to cause permanent changes to the microstructure of a
material that enhance desired properties, with minimal or insignificant
adverse effects. The parameters that are typically controlled and varied
during cryotreatment are: cooling rate, soaking temperature, soaking
time, heating rate and the position of the cryotreatment within the
overall treatment cycle in cases where materials or components are to
be tempered. The statistical significance of parameters in optimizing
wear resistance through deep cryogenic treatment of a high-chromium
martensitic steel was investigated by Darwin et al. by applying Taguchi
Design of Experiment methods. They determined that the significance
of parameters was as follows: (1) soaking temperature, 72%; (2)
soaking time, 24%; (3) rate of cooling, 10%; (4) tempering
temperature, 2%; and that the tempering period was statistically
insignificant.
EXPERIMENTAL RIG SETUP
(a) 7.5 GCI brake rotor in spindle mounting and (b) near-surface
image prior to testing
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS &
ANALYSIS {WEAR TEST}
Summary of cryotreated wear rate improvements against contact pressure.
HARDNESS TESTS
 ROUGHNESS

Example optical images of (a) standard treated and (b) cryotreated rotor
surfaces
Example optical images of (a) standard treated and (b) cryotreated rotor
wear scars
 MICROSTRUCTURAL
ANALYSIS
Etched microstructures at 50 magnification in (a) standard and (b)
cryotreated specimens; and at 100 magnification in (c) standard and (d)
cryotreated specimens.
ADVANTAGES OF CRYO-
TREATMENT ON DISC-BRAKES
Improves rotor surface strength.
Improves heat resistance.
More distances (miles) can be driven in case
of automobiles before costly changes are
required.
Reduces change over rate of rotors.
Overall life of rotor is increased.
Saving of vehicle down time and labour.
40 % reduction in heat is obtained.
Less costly.
CONCLUSIONS
The main objective of was to study the effects
of cryo-treatment on Disc Brakes. In realizing
the objectives, cryo-treatment was carried
out. The test results have shown consistent
trend as per the theoretical background. It is
evident that the process of cryotreatment has
enhanced the properties appreciably. Cryo-
treatment process could alone improve the
mechanical properties significantly. These
treatments were carried continuously with
minimum time gap between them.
REFERENCES
B. Breur, K.H. Bill, Brake Technology Handbook, SAE International,
Pennsylvania, 2008.
J.D. Darwin, D.M. Lal, G. Nagarajan, Optimization of cryogenic treatment to
maximize the wear resistance of 18% Cr martensitic stainless steel by Taguchi
method, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2008.
P.F. Stratton, Optimising nano-carbide precipitation in tool steels, Materials
Science and Engineering, 2007.
P.J. Blau, Compositions, Functions, and Testing of Friction Brake Materials and
their Additives, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, 2001.
R.L. Hecht, R.B. Dinwiddie, H. Wang, The effect of graphite flake morphology
on the thermal diffusivity of gray cast irons used for automotive brake discs,
Journal of Materials Science, 1999.
V. Firouzdor, E. Nejati, F. Khomamizadeh, Effect of deep cryogenic
treatment on wear resistance and tool life of M2 HSS drill, 2008
V. Roubicek, H. Raclavska, D. Juchelkova, P. Filip, Wear and environmental
aspects of composite materials for automotive braking industry, 2008.
THANK
YOU