Tribology International 62 (2013) 155–162

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Tribology International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint

Verification of nanometre-scale modelling of tribofilm sliding behaviour

W. Österle a,n, A.I. Dmitriev b, G. Orts-Gil a, T. Schneider a, H. Ren c, X. Sun c
a
Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Unter den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany
b
Institute of Strength Physics and Materials Science, SB RAS, Akademicheski 2/1, 634021 Tomsk, Russia
c
Zoz Group, Maltoz Street 1, 57482 Wenden, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o abstract

Article history: A model based on movable cellular automata has been applied to study the sliding behaviour of
Received 23 November 2012 tribofilms formed during automotive braking. Since it is not possible yet to determine the composition
Received in revised form of real tribofilms quantitatively, final verification of modelling results is needed. This was done by
12 February 2013
preparing artificial third bodies with compositions and nanostructures matching the ones assumed for
Accepted 15 February 2013
modelling. Pin-on-disc tests were performed while applying the artificial third bodies to the contact.
Available online 28 February 2013
The results revealed that not only the structure of the third body but also the amount of the applied
Keywords: normal pressure determines the COF obtained by modelling and that much better correlation between
Automotive braking experimental and modelling results was obtained while assuming high normal pressures at asperity
Third body
contacts.
Modelling
& 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sliding simulation

1. Introduction 2 tribofilms observed in our previous studies on brake friction

It is widely accepted nowadays that tribofilms play a crucial role
with respect to friction stabilisation and wear reduction in dry friction
applications. Jacobson and Hogmark [1] pointed out that in principle
two types of tribofilms may occur. The first one is a transformation
type tribofilm providing a gradual modification of the bulk micro-
structure while approaching the surface. The second one is formed by
deposition of either molecules from the environment or wear
particles at the surfaces of the two first bodies sliding against each
other. According to the fundamental work of Godet [2], the material
covering the surfaces as tribofilms or filling the gap between first
bodies as loose wear particles is usually termed the third body. This
definition also makes sense from the materials scientist’s point of
view, because it has been observed experimentally that tribofilms and
wear particles show the same composition and microstructure [3]
(more citations in Ref. [4]), which clearly differs from the bulk
microstructure of both first bodies. The term microstructure is used
here in a generalised meaning comprising not only micrometre- but
also nanometre-sized features. In fact, the majority of microstructural
investigations of either wear particles or tribofilms indicate a nano-
crystalline structure. The transformation type layers on metallic
materials mostly were formed by severe plastic deformation. The
grain size and grain shape depends a bit on the type of material
ranging e.g. from 50 nm (diameter) equiaxed grains for copper [5,6]
to 100 nm (width) elongated grains for iron and steel [6]. The type
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ49 30 81041511.
E-mail address: Werner.oesterle@bam.de (W. Österle).
materials always were based on iron oxide Fe3O4 as the major
constituent and the grain size was of the order of 10 nm [4]. Thus,
in the case of braking, but presumably also in most other applications
of dry friction, we have both types of nanocrystalline tribofilms,
namely a type 1 film with a grain size of approximately 100 nm
providing a gradual change of the bulk structure while approaching
the surface and a type 2 film consisting of wear debris with a grain
size of approximately 10 nm. The latter film is formed by tribooxida-
tion of the cast iron disc and mixing with fragmented ingredients
from the brake pad. Interestingly, all pad constituents of the usually
very complicated pad formulation can be identified within wear
debris and type 2 tribofilms [4,7,8]. Since the grains of the different
constituents are so small, it is very difficult to identify them within
the film, even with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) at very
high magnification. Only if the foil thickness is of the order of 10–
20 nm, some of the nanometre-sized grains can be imaged by high
resolution TEM (HR-TEM) or energy-filtered TEM (EF-TEM), as shown
in Ref. [8]. Because of this situation, a statistically relevant quantifica-
tion of the amount of different constituents of the nanostructure of a
type 2 tribofilm is not possible.
On the other hand, it is possible to assess the impact of the
amount of two or three constituents of a nanocomposite on the
coefficient of friction (COF) by modelling with the method of
movable cellular automata (MCA), as reviewed in our recent
papers [9,10]. Furthermore, it was shown by modelling that a
smooth velocity accommodation between the rotating brake disc
and fixed brake pad can be achieved with an iron oxide based
tribofilm, provided that it contains at least 10 vol% of a soft
ingredient such as graphite or copper [6]. The effect of solid

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2013.02.018
156 W. Österle et al. / Tribology International 62 (2013) 155–162
lubricant addition to the iron oxide layer in respect to COF
evolution during a sliding simulation with the MCA model is
shown in Fig. 1. Not only is a reduction of the mean steady-state
COF value from 0.6 to 0.35 observed, but also a very remarkable
decrease of COF fluctuations between successive time steps has
taken place. Thus, sliding is much smoother if the oxide layer
contains 13 vol% graphite compared to the pure oxide.
The mechanism of velocity accommodation under smooth
sliding conditions is deagglomeration of the multi-component
nanostructure and formation of a mechanically mixed layer
(MML) in which loose nanoparticles can move for a certain
distance before they are trapped again at certain surface sites
[10]. Since smooth sliding behaviour is very essential for good
brake performance, we claimed that the composition of tribofilms
formed during braking should correspond to the regime which
has been identified to provide MML-formation during MCA
modelling. Of course, this approach would only be justified if
the modelling parameters were chosen in such a way that
predicted properties correspond to real properties which can be
measured experimentally. The modelled COF data of two simple
structures comprising of Fe3O4 þ15 vol% graphite and Fe3O4 þ
15 vol% graphite þ5 vol% SiC show values between 0.35 and 0.37,
provided the applied normal pressure was high enough to
produce a stable MML (35 MPa) [9]. This COF value is quite near
to the range 0.40–45 which is usually demanded for automotive
braking. Nevertheless, this comparison does not hold as a ver-
ification of predictive modelling because the third-body film has a
much more complicated nanostructure than the one assumed for
modelling.
For verification of the model, experimental results with a
material corresponding more closely to the model structure in
terms of composition and microstructure (nanostructure) is
needed. The challenge is to prepare a microstructure consisting
of Fe3O4 with a grain size of the order of 10 nm homogeneously
mixed with different amounts of graphite of the same grain size. It
is well known that high energy ball milling leads either to
amorphous or nanocrystalline microstructures depending on mate-
rial combinations [11]. Ernst et al. [12] have observed the forma-
tion of a nanocrystalline microstructure for pure graphite and
graphite mixed with 10 wt% iron after 8 h of high energy ball
milling, although the graphite exhibited a highly disordered
structure. Composites produced from this powder did not show
the expected low COF, which was attributed to the loss of crystal-
linity, although a completely amorphous structure was not
observed. In our MCA model the graphite nanoparticles are
regarded as soft ingredient, which supports the formation of the
MML but not necessarily as a solid lubricant which has to take
credit of easy shear along the basal planes of the graphite structure.
Furthermore, the graphite nanoparticles are surrounded by iron
Fig. 1. MCA-simulation of COF evolution for (a) pure oxide films and (b) oxide films with 13 vol% graphite [4]. Lines indicate mean values.
oxide, which is a completely different system as the one considered
by Ernst et al. [12].
The role of graphite as a friction stabiliser is known by brake
manufacturers and was studied systematically, e.g. by Chen et al. [13].
Application of ball milling with the intention to produce an
artificial third body was already applied by Kukutschová et al.
[14]. These authors used a commercial brake pad as starting
material for milling. Despite some differences between real and
artificial third bodies, the main features, namely powder particles
with a nanocrystalline structure and mixing of all pad ingredients
with iron oxide on the nanometre scale, was observed. Thus, it
should be possible to prepare nanocrystalline powders by ball
milling of iron oxide with graphite even if the particle size of the
starting powders is on the micrometre scale.
A further issue towards verification of MCA modelling results
is to measure the friction properties of powders with artificial
third body microstructures. One possibility to do this is to deposit
powders, suspended in a liquid, in pores at the surface of an
appropriate substrate, as described by Rapoport et al. [15].
Another approach was described by Kato [16]. He provided dry
oxide powder to the wear track of a pin-on-disc test and could
show a drastic decrease in wear, provided that the particle size of
the powder was in the sub-micron range. This was attributed to
the formation of a compact oxide layer protecting the surface
from severe wear [17]. Further tests with other oxide powders
confirmed these findings [17]. Surprisingly, despite the very
remarkable wear reduction, COF values decreased only slightly
from 0.8 to 0.6 [16].
In the work presented here, so-called Kato tests were firstly
reproduced and secondly adjusted to third-body material relevant
for brake application. Although the main objective was to verify
previous modelling results, further perspectives and suggested
consequences in respect to the formulation of future friction
materials are discussed as well.
2. Experimental procedure
2.1. Powder preparation
Iron oxides Fe3O4, Fe2O3 and FeOOH used as inorganic pigments
of colours black, red and yellow, respectively, were obtained from
LANXESS, Leverkusen, Germany. According to the supplier’s data
sheet, the impurity content was o3% and the predominant
particle sizes were 0.2, 0.17 and 0.1 mm, respectively. Natural
graphite powder was obtained from Ashbury Carbons, New Jersey.
The particle diameter prior to milling was in the range 44–180 mm.
In order to obtain a nanocrystalline structure and mixing of the
two components on the nanoscopic scale, high energy ball milling
 W. Österle et al. / Tribology International 62 (2013) 155–162
was applied with a Simoloyer CM01-21 (Zoz company, Wenden,
Germany). For a 100 g batch, 2000 g of ZrO2 milling balls (diameter
5 mm) were used. Three levels of kinetic energy were applied by
varying the number of rotations per second (rps): 900, 1150,
and 1500; corresponding to line speeds of 5.5, 7.0 and 9.1 m/s,
respectively. During step 1, graphite was processed for 5 min at
900 rpm followed by 15 min at 1500 rpm. Subsequently, the mag-
netite powder was added and milling continued at 1500 rpm for
45 s followed by 900 rpm for 15 s, totalling 180 min. The final step
comprised of discharging by applying 1150 rpm for 10 min, rechar-
ging the powder once more, and finally discharging at 1150 rpm for
10 min. Water cooling was applied to keep the temperature con-
stant at 28 1C.
2.2. Powder characterisation
A conventional TEM (JEOL 4000FX) was used to show the
micro/nanostructure of the raw materials and milled powders
and to check their crystallinity and phase content. Additional
information was obtained with an analytical TEM/STEM (JEOL
2200FS) providing chemical mapping on the nanometre scale and
imaging of atomic lattice planes in the high resolution mode
(HR-TEM). TEM-specimens were prepared by immersion of grids
type S-147-3 (Cu coated with carbon film, Plano GmbH) in a
small volume (2 mL) of ethanol suspension containing powder
(0.1 wt%), and solvent evaporation in a dust protected atmo-
sphere. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) were applied as complementary methods to reveal crystal-
lographic phases and particle size distributions, respectively.
2.3. Tribological testing
A method for testing tribological properties of oxide powders
was suggested by Kato [16,17]. During such a test, 0.1 g of a dry
oxide powder is supplied to the wear track of a pin-on-disc
machine. All details of the test device and testing conditions are
described accurately in Ref. [16]. With the application of pro-
cessed oxide powders as third body material in brakes in mind,
we made two modifications of the original Kato test procedure.
The first one was to make the disc specimen of cast iron instead of
steel, because brake discs usually are made of that material. The
second modification was to use magnetite powder (Fe3O4) instead
of haematite (Fe2O3) for the preparation of the artificial third
body. This decision was driven by the finding that the main
constituent of third bodies produced under real braking condi-
tions always was magnetite and not haematite [3,4,6–10,14].
Since the results of the original Kato tests could not be repro-
duced with this modified system, the cast iron disc was replaced
by a steel disc of German grade St52, which has similar mechan-
ical properties as the 0.45 mass % carbon steel used by Kato [16].
After having studied the impact of the type of oxide on COF,
further systematic work was performed with steel discs, steel
pins and magnetite-based powder mixtures. An interpretation of
different test results obtained with cast iron and steel discs is
given in Section 3.4. In contrast to Kato’s work, we were especially
interested in the development of COF-values in connexion with
tribofilm formation. Therefore, normal and tangential forces were
acquired every second during the test. As in Kato’s test, the load
was kept constant at 20 N and the sliding speed was 0.05 m/s.
Changes of wear rate were also monitored via length change of
the steel pin, but not discussed further in this paper.
2.4. Post-test characterisation
To reveal tribofilms or attached powder particles, focused ion
beam technique (FIB) was used to prepare micrometre-sized
157
cross-sections at the surface of one of the pins after tribological
testing. A single beam FIB (FEI Strata 200xP) was used for this
purpose. The microstructure of ion beam polished cross sections
was revealed by FIB imaging. Prior to FIB preparation the surface
was investigated by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) com-
bined with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Characterisation of raw materials
Typical TEM micrographs of magnetite and graphite particles
are shown in Fig. 2. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED)
showed spotty rings corresponding to crystallographic planes of
the magnetite phase in different orientations (Fig. 2b).
While the primary grain size of magnetite was of the order of
100 nm (Fig. 2a), the graphite showed a very broad size distribu-
tion. Fig. 2(c) shows two overlapping flake-like graphite crystals
in a TEM micrograph. A SEM study revealed a high number
of particles with diameters around 25 mm, but some large
particles 4100 mm were observed as well. Although the size of
the smallest particles was several microns in diameter, SAED
was possible, indicating that the graphite grains had a sheet-like
morphology with a sheet thickness of approximately 100–
200 nm. SAED patterns from graphite sheets (not shown here)
revealed spots which usually could be attributed to one single
crystal orientation.
3.2. Characterisation of powders after high energy ball milling
Fig. 3(a) shows a typical TEM result of a magnetite–graphite
powder mixture after the milling process. It is clearly visible that
the grain size has decreased and the SAED pattern shown in
Fig. 3(b) reveals two broad diffraction rings corresponding to
(0002) and (0004) planes of the graphite appearing in addition to
the sharp rings from the magnetite. Furthermore, magnetite and
graphite nanocrystals were also revealed by HR-TEM (Fig. 3c)
showing lattice fringes of 0.255 and 0.34 nm corresponding to
(311) planes of magnetite and (0002) planes of graphite, respec-
tively. These results show that high energy ball milling has led to
a nanocrystalline structure and mixture of graphite with magne-
tite on the nanoscopic scale, but not to amorphization of the
graphite as suggested by Ernst et al. [12]. Although it was
observed that x-ray diffraction peaks of graphite disappeared
completely during ball milling (checked, but not shown here), the
structure of the graphite is not amorphous. On the other hand, it
is very hard to reveal the diffraction rings even in electron
diffraction because the intensity is very low. For that reason the
mixture with only 15% graphite revealed only very faint graphite
rings, and for the one with 5% graphite it was not possible to
prove that it contained graphite by SAED.
3.3. Tribological behaviour of powders supplied to steel discs
The first objective of tribological testing was to reproduce Kato’s
results [16] by applying the same geometrical conditions and test
parameters but not only Fe2O3, like Kato, but also the other oxides
Fe3O4 and FeOOH were considered. Fig. 4 shows the COF evolution
during the tests of all three oxides compared to the behaviour
without oxide supply (steel pin sliding against steel disc).
The steady-state COF values, i.e., average after a running-in
period of 9 min, are: 0.87, 0.75, 0.58 and 0.55 for steel-on-steel,
Fe2O3, FeOOH and Fe3O4, respectively.
Although these values are higher as the ones shown by Kato, i.e.
0.75 for steel sliding against steel and 0.55–0.6 for Fe2O3, the
158 W. Österle et al. / Tribology International 62 (2013) 155–162
Fig. 2. TEM-results of raw materials: (a) Fe3O4, (b) corresponding SAED, and (c) graphite.
tendency is the same. Taking into account results from other
studies, COF values of steel usually are in the range 0.55–1.0
[16,18–21], and those of iron oxides between 0.4 and 0.6 [19,20].
Jibiki et al. claimed COF-values of 0.33 for oxide films and 0.83 for
so-called glaze oxide [21]. Comparison of our measured mean COF
of Fe3O4, 0.55, with the one obtained by MCA modelling of pure
oxide films (Fig. 1a), shows excellent agreement. Furthermore, the
mean COF for the experiment of the steel pin sliding against the
steel disc without powder supply also compares very well with
modelling results, revealing 0.9 (Fig. 4) and 0.8–9 [22], respectively.
A second series of Kato tests was performed with the objective
to verify the impact of graphite fraction, firstly on the transition
from stick-slip to smooth sliding and secondly on the COF level.
Both effects were observed by modelling of Fe3O4 layers with
different graphite concentrations in the range 5.5–27 vol% [9].
Fig. 5(a and b) display the fluctuation of COF values during Kato
tests with powders containing a low and high amount of graphite
respectively, whereas Fig. 5(c and d) show modelling results for
similar structures. Although the time scales are completely
different, a similar effect of smoothening of the COF-fluctuations
with increasing graphite concentration is clearly visible in
both cases.
The impact of graphite concentration on the friction level is
shown in Fig. 6. Here only mean values taken by integrating over
120 time steps are shown for the graphite range 5–30%. Curves for
pure oxide and pure graphite layers are shown for comparison.
Surprisingly, as soon as graphite was added, the steady-state
COF measured by Kato’s test dropped from 0.55 to 0.3, almost
irrespective of the amount of graphite (Fig. 6a). Although the COF
values of pure oxide and graphite powders were reproduced very
well by MCA modelling, adding different amounts of graphite to
the oxide produced different curves (Fig. 6b). Especially, for the
low graphite concentration, the simulated COF level was signifi-
cantly higher than the experimental value.
As already described in a previous paper, the COF level reached
during MCA modelling does not only depend on the composition
of the nanostructured surface film but also on the amount of
applied normal pressure [9]. Fig. 7 shows the impact of normal
pressure on steady-state COF values for the modelled structures.
While assuming pure Fe3O4 layers, no influence of pressure on
COF is observed. This corresponds to the fact that no mechanically
mixed layer (MML) was observed during these simulations even
at the highest pressure, and COF-fluctuations were always high
(visible on Fig. 1b). The mixture with approximately 6 vol%
graphite shows a transient behaviour in so far as the COF is high
in the pressure range 5–35 MPa and significantly lower in the
range 40–55 MPa. The second range corresponds to the onset of
MML formation whereas the first range still shows unstable
behaviour with large COF fluctuations as shown in Fig. 5(c). Thus
the three curves representing different graphite concentrations
 W. Österle et al. / Tribology International 62 (2013) 155–162
Fig. 3. Fe3O4 þ30 vol% graphite after ball milling. (a) conventional TEM, (b) SAED-pattern, and (c) HR-TEM.
Fig. 4. Impact of oxide powders on COF as a function of time during pin-on-disc
tests. Curves were smoothed by integrating over 3 min of data acquisition.
(6, 13 and 27%) correspond quite well to the experimental data
shown in Fig. 6(a), but only under the assumption of high normal
pressure which is necessary to initiate MML formation which, on
the other hand, promotes smooth sliding behaviour.
It should be mentioned here that the pressures considered
during modelling were more than 10 and up to 50 times higher
than the nominal contact pressure of 1 MPa which was applied
159
during the pin-on-disc test. This seems to be justified, because the
model considers an asperity contact of very small size (0.5 mm
width), which also determines the very short time step. Besides
very different length and time scales, the sliding velocities were
completely different as well, namely 0.05 m/s for the pin-on-disc
test (as suggested by Kato) and 10 m/s for MCA modelling. The
latter value was chosen because it is representative for automo-
tive braking. Since we did not observe a significant impact of
sliding velocity on friction data during previous unpublished
work with the MCA model, we kept this parameter constant for
all simulations shown here and in previous papers [4,6,8–10].
Temperature increase as a consequence of frictional heating is
another issue which has to be discussed. Since simulations based on
the MCA model consider a very small time interval (o10  6 s),
temperature can be neglected during a single simulation, which only
represents a snapshot of a highly dynamical process. During braking,
temperature rises gradually within several seconds. This could be
accounted for by introducing temperature-dependent mechanical
properties for a series of subsequent simulations. Although not
presented here, we have performed such a study recently. The results
suggest that the model is quite robust towards the mechanical
property changes likely to occur by increasing temperature. These
results will be published in a separate paper. Nevertheless, we should
not expect too much from modelling. The simulations considered in
this study are predictive only in the sense that they describe the
160 W. Österle et al. / Tribology International 62 (2013) 155–162

Fig. 5. Impact of graphite concentration of Fe3O4–graphite mixtures on COF-fluctuations. (a, b) Experimental results with 5 and 30 vol% graphite, respectively, and (c, d)
MCA-modelling results with 5.5 and 27 vol% graphite, respectively (p ¼35 MPa).

Fig. 6. Impact of graphite concentration on COF. (a) Experiments, and (b) modelling of different Fe3O4–graphite mixtures (0–100% graphite) while assuming p¼ 35 MPa.

sliding behaviour of some simple model structures under moderate

ambient conditions, i.e., at a constant ambient temperature. This was
shown here by the pin-on-disc tests with artificial third bodies
supplied to the contact in the form of powders. Since the observed
COF levels, both in experiments as well as during modelling, are close
to the ones needed for automotive braking, we conclude that the
assumed model structures play an important role in real braking as
well. This hypothesis is corroborated by numerous TEM investigations
showing the complex nanocrystalline structure of third-body films
and wear debris formed during braking [3,4,6–8,10].

3.4. Tribological behaviour of steel pin on cast iron disc

Finally, the results obtained by using a cast iron disc instead of

Fig. 7. Pressure dependencies of the different model structures. the steel disc without and with supply of Fe3O4 powder are
 W. Österle et al. / Tribology International 62 (2013) 155–162 161

Fig. 8. Results of Kato tests comprising of steel pin on cast iron disc. a) Without powder b) with supply of Fe3O4 powder.

(Fig. 4), respectively. From this finding we conclude that the

graphite present in the cast iron together with the iron oxide
formed instantaneously by tribo-oxidation is sufficient for initiat-
ing the COF-reduction observed for the cast iron disc even without
any powder supply.

3.5. Morphology of powder layer at a pin surface

An example of a typical powder layer formed at the surface of

the steel pin during a pin-on-disc test with powder supply is
shown in Fig. 9(a). FIB-imaging reveals not only the surface layer
which obviously was formed by compaction of powder particles
against the pin surface, but also the microstructure of the heavily
deformed steel substrate. The grains of the ferritic steel are
elongated, approximately 100 nm wide and sheared in horizontal
direction while approaching the interface with the deposited
particle layer.
Although the appearance of loosely bound particle layers like
the one shown in Fig. 9(a) was quite common, compact layers
without gaps between powder particles were observed as well.
Only the latter correspond to the assumptions made for modelling
the behaviours shown in Figs. 1 and 5–7. Therefore, it was
important to check whether the loosely packed structure shown
in Fig. 9(b) shows similar sliding behaviour as the compact layers.
This was simulated in our recent paper [10]. The modelling setup
shown in Fig. 9(b) shows the 2-D-reconstruction of a powder
layer obtained by breaking bonds between adjacent automata
along virtual grain boundaries. Since very similar results were
obtained for both cases, i.e., compact and granular layers [10], it
seems to be quite clear that it is not the degree of powder
compaction but rather the amount and distribution of graphite
that determines friction properties and sliding behaviour.

4. Conclusions

The following hypotheses have been confirmed by the results

Fig. 9. (a) FIB-image showing the interface between a powder layer and the
plastically deformed steel substrate of a pin after Kato’s test with powder supply
described in Section 3.
(Fe3O4 þ 30 vol% graphite) and (b) modelling setup of a loosely packed powder
layer. Note that the graphite distribution cannot be resolved in the FIB-image.
discussed. In fact, these results can be interpreted with the
findings of the previous section. Graphs depicting the raw data
of the corresponding tests are shown in Fig. 8.
The friction behaviour of both tests with cast iron discs compare
well to the tests with steel discs, provided that Fe3O4–graphite
powder mixtures in the range 5–30% graphite were supplied to the
latter (curves in the middle of Fig. 6a). Without powder supply, or
while supplying pure oxide powders, the steel-on-steel couple
behaves completely different depicting a COF of 0.87 and 0.55
– High energy ball milling produces nanostructures which are
comparable to those observed in surface films after tribological
testing or in wear debris released from the tribological contact.
– Especially, the more simple nanostructures assumed for slid-
ing simulation studies with the MCA-model can be reproduced
experimentally by milling the two major components of the
third body.
– The tribological properties of artificial third bodies can be
measured with a simple pin-on-disc test, as described by Kato
for pure oxides [16,17].
162 W. Österle et al. / Tribology International 62 (2013) 155–162
– It is possible to verify modelling results of oxide–graphite mix-
tures with pin-on-disc tests while applying appropriate powders.
Further conclusions are:
– The best coincidence between model and experiment was
observed when high contact pressures, 440 times the nom-
inal contact pressure of the pin-on-disc configuration, were
assumed. Under these conditions, a mechanically mixed layer
providing smooth sliding behaviour is formed even for the
lowest graphite concentration (5–6 vol%).
– Since tests with a steel pin against a cast iron disc without
powder supply showed very similar results as steel-on-steel
with supply of the oxide–graphite mixture, we can conclude
that for automotive braking, when the disc usually is made of
cast iron, a third body composed of iron oxide and graphite is
formed almost instantaneously. The corresponding COF is
0.30–35 which is often observed if a new pad is used, before
the running-in procedure leads to an increase of the COF to the
range 0.40–45. During running-in, the composition of the third
body changes. In addition to graphite, other pad constituents
are mixed with the iron oxide matrix. Although we already
have performed further modelling with more complicated
nanostructures, the mechanism of COF-increase during the
running-in procedure is not yet completely understood.
Further work will be needed to clear this point.
Acknowledgements
Financial support for this work was obtained by German Research
Foundation, contract no. OS77/19-1. Furthermore, the authors would
like to thank their colleagues Olaf Berndes, Cornelius Deutsch and
Heidi Rooch from BAM for technical assistance and Heinz Kloß for
fruitful discussions.
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