Tribology International 36 (2015) 537–545

www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint

Tribological study of gray cast iron with automotive brake linings:

The effect of rotor microstructure
M.H. Cho a, S.J. Kim a, R.H. Basch b, J.W. Fash b, H. Jang a,∗
a
Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea University, 1, 5 -ka, Anam-Dong Sungbuk-Ku, Seoul 136-701, South Korea
b
Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI 48121, USA

Received 23 February 2015; received in revised form 23 October 2016; accepted 1 November 2016

Abstract

Experimental studies of friction characteristics were conducted using gray cast iron and automotive brake linings. The gray iron
samples were manufactured to have different microstructures by changing the carbon equivalent and cooling speeds of melts and
two different types of non-commercial brake linings (non-steel and steel-containing linings) were used as a counter material. Friction
tests were performed on a pad-on-disk type tribotester and particular emphases were given to the effect of graphite flakes and
ferrite in the gray iron disks on fade phenomena and the level of the coefficient of friction. Resul ts showed that the coefficient of
friction increased with the amount of graphite flakes on the gray iron and the effect was more pronounced in the case of usin g steel-
containing linings. The amount of ferrite phase on the disk surface showed little influen ce on the coefficient of friction. Fade
resistance of non-steel linings was improved with the increase of graphite flakes on the disk surface and steel -containing linings
showed good fade resistance regardless of graphite contents in the gray iron disks.
 2016 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Gray cast iron; Friction characteristics; Graphite; Ferrite; Carbon equivalent; Brake linings

1. Introduction blamed first since the lining appears more vulnerable to

Performance of a brake system depends on the interac-
tion of gray iron rotors (or drums) with brake linings at
their sliding interfaces. The interaction between the two
disparate materials involves mechanical and chemical
actions on a molecular level, and the interaction at the
rubbing surface is very complicated in nature. Gray cast
iron with the microstructure of Type A graphite flakes
in a predominantly pearlitic matrix has long been used
for brake rotors and drums since the early stage of
vehicle development. The linings, on the other hand,
have experienced major changes in their formulations
during the last two decades due to health issues related
to asbestos fibers, and there has been a significant effort
to develop high performance non-asbestos linings [1,2].
When a brake-related problem arises, linings are often
∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: 82-2-3290-3276; fax: 82-2-928-
3584.
E-mail address: hojang@korea.ac.kr (H. Jang).
various braking parameters such as temperature, press-
ure, sliding speed, and environmental conditions. How-
ever, it is also known that the shape and physical proper-
ties of the brake rotor can affect brake-induced problems
such as judder (vibration due to rotor warping or uneven
disk thickness), fade (loss of brake effectiveness due to
frictional heat), and noise [3–5]. This is because the
physical properties of the gray iron rotor such as thermal
conductivity, damping capacity, thermal expansion coef-
ficient, and specific heat change according to the phases
in the gray iron [6–9].
During the last several decades, a great deal of effort
has been devoted to improve the friction performance of
brake rotors (or drums). The effort includes the develop-
ment of non-ferrous materials such as copper alloys,
aluminum metal matrix composites (MMCs), and carbon
composites as new candidates [10,11]. However, gray
cast iron is mainly used for automotive brake rotors due
to its excellent damping capacity, high thermal conduc-
tivity, easy fabrication, and, in particular, low cost. Tri-
bological properties of gray cast iron and brake linings

0301-679X/03/$ - see front matter  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0301-679X(02)00260-8
538 M.H. Cho et al. / Tribology International 36 (2016) 537–545

have been studied concerning various aspects of brake

performance. Anderson [12] reported that fine graphite
flakes reduced the wear of the rotor and lining. Rhee
et al. [13] showed that the change of rotor composition
strongly affected both the mechanical properties of the
rotor and the wear rate of brake linings and rotors, sug-
gesting that the rotor was chemically active with the
brake linings during braking. Libsch and Rhee [8]
reported the effects of compositional variations of rotor
on wear. They showed that small changes in the level
of alloying elements changed the wear of linings and
rotors. Zhang et al. [14] studied the tribological proper-
ties of cast iron in terms of phosphor content and graph-
ite morphology. They concluded that phosphorous con-
taining cast iron having compacted graphite morphology
showed the highest coefficient of friction (COF) and the
lowest wear loss. Hecht et al. [15] found that thermal
diffusivity of gray iron is influenced by a subtle change
in chemical composition and showed a linear relation-
ship between thermal diffusivity and carbon equivalent
(or maximum flake length). Similar results were found
in the work by Okamoto et al. [6] that the thermal con-
ductivity of cast iron was proportional to the shape of
graphite flakes (or graphite nodularity) of cast iron.
Jimbo et al. [7] also reported the benefit of using high
thermal conductivity cast iron for brake rotors. However,
the change of friction characteristics such as the coef-
ficient of friction value and the amount of fade, evalu-
ated as a function of gray iron microstructures, has not
been reported in the literature. In particular, little atten-
tion has been given to the correlation between the rela-
tive amounts of phases on the gray iron and friction per- Fig. 1. The shape of a step block casting produced for this experi -
formance. ment.
In this study, friction characteristics of gray iron were
investigated as a function of the relative amounts of
phases (graphite, ferrite, and pearlite). The microstruc- 1. Disk specimens of 6.0 cm in diameter and 0.8 cm in
ture of gray iron was controlled by changing the carbon thickness were fabricated from each plate of the castings.
equivalent and cooling speed of melts. A main emphasis Two different non-commercial linings were produced
of this investigation was given to the effect of the gray and used for this investigation. Both are non-asbestos
iron microstructure on fade and the level of the COF. organic type linings and the main difference between the
Two different types of non-commercial brake linings two linings is the contents of steel fibers and non-met-
(non-steel and steel-containing linings) were used for allic fibers so they have been designated as a “non-steel
this study. lining” (lining A) and a “steel-containing lining” (lining
B) in this study [12,16]. The ingredients and physical
properties of the two linings are shown in the Table 2,
2. Experiments panels (i) and (ii). As shown in Table 2, panel (ii), the
lining A had better thermal conductivity due to the high
Gray iron disk specimens were manufactured from content of steel fibers and lining B showed higher sur-
three step block castings containing different levels of face hardness. The manufacturing process of the linings
carbon equivalent. Each step block casting had four consisted of mixing, pre-forming, hot molding, post-cur-
plates with different thickness (Fig. 1) to obtain different ing, and scorching. Manufacturing process details were
cooling rates. The step block castings were produced by given in previous publications [17,18]. Fig. 2 shows the
re-melting commercial brake rotors in a vacuum induc- microstructure of the two linings. The lining A exhibits
tion furnace. The amount of CE was controlled by brighter shapes of steel fibers in the back-scattered elec-
adding ferro-silicon or carbon in the melt. The compo- tron image of SEM. The microstructure of the gray iron
sitions of the step block castings are shown in the Table disk was examined using an optical microscope after
 M.H. Cho et al. / Tribology International 36 (2016) 537–545 539

Table 1
The composition of the step block castings in weight %

Cast No. C Si Mn P S Cu Ni Cr V Mo Ti Fe CE

1 3.32 1.7 0.52 0.03 0.1 0.15 0.03 0.04 <0.01 0.01 0.01 bal. 3.89
2 3.46 1.8 0.52 0.03 0.1 0.15 0.03 0.04 <0.01 0.01 0.01 bal. 4.06
3 3.68 2.0 0.52 0.03 0.1 0.15 0.03 0.04 <0.01 0.01 0.01 bal. 4.35

Table 2
Ingredients in the brake linings produced for this study (amounts in
volume %)

Panel (i)

Ingredients Lining A Lining B (Steel-

(Non-steel) containing)

Phenolic resin 15
Aramid pulp 10
Rockwool 5
Cashew particle 10
Graphite 10
ZrSiO4 5
BaSO4 20
Ca(OH) 2 4
Steel fiber 0 15
Ceramic fiber 4 0
Potassium titanate 17 0
Iron powder 0 6

Panel (ii)

Property Lining A Lining B

Thermal conductivity 0.95 1.66

(W/mK)
Hardness (HRs) 62.3 48.4
Porosity (%) 12.5 13.1

standard metallographic procedure [19]. The relative

amounts of metallic phases in the gray iron and the aver-
age graphite flake length were obtained using an image
analyzer (BMI plusTM, Bummi Universe Co.) connected
to a metallurgical microscope. The area % of the phases
on the disk surface was obtained by measuring ten dif-
ferent regions along a straight line across the center of
the disk. Each region covers 2 mm  2 mm on the
disk surface.
The friction tests were carried out using a pad-on-disk
type tribotester. The tester used a hydraulic press to
apply load. Data (friction force, line pressure, rotation
speed, and disk temperature) during friction tests were
recorded in situ by a PC-based data acquisition system
(National Instruments Lab PC-1200 DAQ system). The
data acquisition rate was set at 100 Hz during the data
collection. The temperature of the disk was measured
using an infrared thermometer (3M Scotchtrak IR-16)
focusing on the rotor surface near the trailing edge of
Fig. 2. Microstructure of non-steel (a) and steel-containing (b) linings
produced for this study. The steel-containing lining shows bright steel
flakes in the SEM micrograph (back-scattered electron image mode).
the friction material. A schematic diagram of the tribot-
ester and the configuration of the friction couple appear
in Fig. 3. The load cell in the Fig. 3 measures the torque
from the rotating upper body when the friction occurs
at the rubbing surface. The upper rotating body was
designed to rotate by inserting bearings between the rot-
ating part and the fixed part. The COF was calculated
from the toque and the effective radius of the disk. The
detailed test procedure is given in Table 3.
540 M.H. Cho et al. / Tribology International 36 (2016) 537–545

amounts of carbon equivalent (CE) and cooling speed.

The micrographs of the gray iron disks that were manu-
factured for this study exhibited typical gray iron micro-
structures containing graphite flakes, pearlite (ferrite and
cementite layers), and free ferrite as shown in Fig. 4.
The relative amounts of the phases (expressed as area
% of graphite, free ferrite, and pearlite) on the rubbing
surface of the 12 disk specimens are plotted in a ternary
diagram (Fig. 5). Observation of the microstructures sug-
gests that the gray iron with large area % of graphite
tends to have longer graphite flakes showing an approxi-
mately linear relationship between graphite area % and
average graphite length (Fig. 6). The large error bars in
the plot were originated from irregular shapes of flaky
graphite in the disk surface and local segregation of the
graphite flakes. However, no apparent relationship
between the relative amounts of phases and the CE of
gray iron (or thickness of castings) was observed in this
study. This result implies that the relative amount of the
phases can be affected by factors other than CE and coo-
ling speed.

Fig. 3. (a) A schematic diagram of the pad-on-disk type tribotester.

The load cell measures the torque from the rotating upper body when
the friction occurs at the rubbing surface. The upper portion of the
friction tester was designed to rotate by inserting bearings between the
rotating part and the fixed part. (b) Geometry of a disk specimen and
linings in the form of small pad samples.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Microstructure of gray cast iron disks
Twelve disk specimens from three step block castings
showed different microstructures due to different
Fig. 4. Microstructure of the gray iron disks that were manufactured
for this study. This is a typical gray iron microstructure, exhibiting
graphite flakes embedded in a matrix of pearlite (ferrite  cementite
layers) and free ferrite.

Table 3
Tribotest procedures employed in this study

Purpose Pressurea. (MPa) Speed (m/s) Initial temperature Duration (sec)

(C)

Leveling Even contacts 0.147 [2.3] 0.13 35 10 sec

Burnish Run-in 0.785 [12.2] 2.6 100 300 sec  5 times
Short drag Average  k 0.785 [12.2] 0.26 35 15 sec  8 times
measurement
High temp. dragb. A k (fade) 0.589 [9.2] 2.1 35 40 sec drag  20 sec interval  15
measurement times

a.
The number in the square brackets represents the unit area pressure experienced by the friction material.
b.
The high temperature drag is a constant interval test consisting of 60 sec drag with 15 sec interval and repeated 15 times.
 M.H. Cho et al. / Tribology International 36 (2016) 537–545 541

Fig. 5. (a) (Top) Ternary diagram showing relative amounts of phases on the gray iron disk surfac es. (b) (Bottom) Microstructures observed on
the surface of disk specimens that correspond to a, e, and i in the ternary diagram; graphite morphology is shown before etch ing and matrix
morphology and distribution of free ferrite are seen in the post etched micrographs.

3.2. Friction characteristics as a function of rotor
microstructure
3.2.1. Effect of free ferrite on friction coefficient
Free ferrite forms in gray iron when carbon and silicon
contents exceed the amounts that are needed to form
pearlite during cooling [20]. The ferrite in the gray iron
disk samples in Fig. 6 is produced from the decompo-
sition of cementite at elevated temperatures, and it often
appears near graphite flakes since carbon in the cement-
ite precipitates as graphite during decomposition. The
effect of ferrite in gray iron on the COF was examined
by testing gray iron disks containing different amounts
of ferrite on their surfaces. Six gray iron disks with simi-
lar area % of graphite were chosen for this analysis as
shown in Fig. 7 (group X). Fig. 8 shows the effect of
ferrite phase on the COF. Results showed that the COF
was not affected by the amount of ferrite on the disk
surface. This was an interesting result since higher COF
values were expected as the amount of ferrite increased
in the case of steel-containing linings due to material
compatibility between steel fibers in the lining and the
free ferrite in the gray iron disk [21]. This result suggests
that the two metallic phases (ferrite and pearlite) have a
similar level of friction effectiveness when they are
rubbed against two brake linings, or that at these low
percents of ferrite its presence does not alter the friction.
Fig. 7 also indicates that the lining B has a slightly
higher coefficient of friction than the lining A suggesting
that the lining B can produce more frictional heat than
lining B during sliding if the friction test is carried out
for the same amount of time. However, the measured
temperature rise at the sliding interface during this short
drag tests was less than ten degrees, which appeared to
have little effect on the COF in this experiment.
542 M.H. Cho et al. / Tribology International 36 (2016) 537–545

Fig. 6. Graphite area % as a function of average length of graphite Fig. 8. Effect of free ferrite on the coefficient of friction.
flake.

this study, the COF was measured as a function of

graphite area % on the gray iron disk surface. Five gray
iron disk samples ((a) to (e) in Fig. 7 (group Y)) with
the similar area % of ferrite were chosen for this analy-
sis. Fig. 9 shows the COF as a function of graphite area
% on the gray iron disks. In the case of the non-steel
lining A, the COF did not change much with graphite
area %. On the other hand, the COF increased with the
graphite area % for the steel-containing lining B. This
is an interesting result since this result suggests that the

Fig. 7. Gray iron samples were sub-grouped in terms of the micro-

structure. Group X consists of gray iron samples with a similar amount
of graphite (~10%): b, c, f, g, h, and i in Fig. 5. Group Y consists of
disks with a similar amount of ferrite phases (~0-1%): a ~ e in Fig. 5.

3.2.2. Effect of graphite on friction coefficient

It is well known that the morphology and the relative
amount of graphite flakes strongly affect the damping
capacity and thermal conductivity of gray iron. There-
fore, gray iron with high graphite content and long
graphite flakes has been preferred for brake rotors and
drums since it assists to reduce the brake temperature
and to decrease the noise propensity during brake appli- Fig. 9. The change of the coefficient of friction as a function of
cations. However, a systematic investigation of the effect graphite area % on gray iron samples when the friction test was perfor -
of graphite flakes on the COF has not been reported. In med with non-steel lining and steel-containing lining.
 M.H. Cho et al. / Tribology International 36 (2016) 537–545 543

presence of graphite on the gray iron disks can increase

the friction force during brake applications. The increase
of the COF seems due to the interaction of sharp edges
of gray iron matrix around graphite flakes with ingredi-
ents of the lining. In particular, the steel fibers in the
lining B appear strongly interacting with the iron edges
and perhaps play a major role in increasing the COF. On
the other hand, potassium titanate whiskers and ceramic
fibers in the non-steel lining did not seem to interact
strongly with the iron edges around graphite flakes.
Transfer film on the disk surface is also believed to
affect the dependence of the COF on the graphite area
% in the case of lining A because it is observed that the
friction film covers the disk surface and prevents direct
contacts of coarse ingredients with iron edges around
graphite flakes. These results also are not believed to be
affected by the temperature differences due to the dis-
similar COF levels since the friction test induces less
than ten degrees of temperature rise.

3.2.3. Fade resistance

Brake fade refers to the loss of brake effectiveness
as a result of excessive frictional heat from repeated or
extended brake applications. To investigate the corre-
lation between fade resistance and rotor microstructures,
constant interval tests were performed to measure the
amount of fade as a function of graphite area % on the
gray iron disks. Five gray iron disks containing different
area % of graphite (group Y in Fig. 7) were used in this
study [22]. The constant interval test mode simulates the
periodic brake applications needed to maintain a moder-
ate vehicle speed when a vehicle descends a hill. The
details of the test conditions are described in Table 3.
The maximum disk temperatures reached during this test
were ranged from 390 to 425 C depending on the type
of a lining and gray iron disk pair. Fig. 10 shows the
COF as a function of disk temperature during the con-
stant interval tests. Fig. 10(a) is the result from five dif-
ferent gray iron disks when the lining A (non-steel) is
used. This figure indicates that the COF values are main-
tained up to elevated temperatures when the gray iron
disks contain higher graphite contents. However, the Fig. 10. The change of the COF during constant interval tests using
COF rapidly decreases at lower temperatures when gray lining A (non-steel lining) and lining B (steel-containing lining). The
iron with a small graphite content is used. The same tests were carried out with five different gray iron disks showing differ-
tendency is also found by examining the temperatures ent amounts of graphite area on the disk.
that show an abrupt decrease of the COF. Fig. 10(b)
shows the change of the COF when the five gray iron of graphite in the disk. On the other hand, in the case
disks are tested with the lining B. In this case, the change of the lining A, the Ak is quite sensitive to the area %
of the COF as a function of temperature was smaller of the graphite in the disks, showing better fade resist-
than that of lining A indicating better heat resistance. ance in the case of using gray iron disks showing more
From the constant interval tests, the amount of fade graphite area. The contrast between the two results from
was obtained by calculating the difference of the COF linings A and B can be illuminated by considering the
values between 130 and 390 C in this study as Ak. temperature at the friction interface (flash temperature)
Fig. 11 shows the Ak as a function of graphite area on and by speculating the tribological interaction between
the gray iron disks. The figure indicates that the lining graphite flakes on the disk surface and the ingredients
B has similar fade resistance regardless of the amount in the lining. However, the detailed interpretation of the
544 M.H. Cho et al. / Tribology International 36 (2016) 537–545
Fig. 11. The amounts of fade observed during constant interval tests
for the two linings A and B as a function of graphite area on the gray
iron disks. The amount of fade was obtained from the difference ( A k)
of the COF values at 390 C and at 130 C in Fig. 10.
frictional behavior could not be performed in this study.
This is partly because of the lack of information about
interaction between ingredients of multi-component
linings with gray iron disk on a molecular level and also
because of the difficulty of measuring flash temperature
at the sliding interface. However, the results from this
work strongly suggest the possible improvement of fade
resistance by increasing the graphite content in the gray
iron disks (or drums) assuming the gray iron with a high
graphite content has enough strength to be compatible
with applied loads during brake applications. Although
the emphasis of this investigation is not on the direct
comparison of the two different types of linings but on
the effect of gray iron microstructure on friction
phenomena, it is a salient fact that the lining with low
thermal conductivity gets more benefits for fade resist-
ance by using a grey iron disk with a high content of
graphite. And this result also shows that the amounts of
fade from the two different linings are similar when the
graphite area % on the disk surface reaches 12%
implying that it may be possible to overcome the inferior
fade resistance of non-steel linings by using rotors with
high graphite area %. However, the effect of graphite
content in the grey iron on the COF (or fade resistance)
found in this study may be pronounced due to the size
effects of disk and lining samples so that dynamometer
tests with full size components or in-vehicle tests are
recommended for confirmation of these results.
4. Conclusions
The friction properties of grey iron with different
microstructure were investigated. The different micro-
structures of the gray iron were produced by changing
the cooling speed and carbon equivalent of melts. Two
different types of non-commercial linings were
employed for the friction tests and the friction tests were
carried out using a small scale tribometer. The results
from the tests are summarized as follows:
1. The amount of free ferrite (and pearlite) on the gray
iron disk did not affect the COF.
2. The COF increased with the graphite area % on the
gray iron disk samples and the increment was more
pronounced in the case of using steel-containing
linings.
3. In the case of non-steel linings, fade resistance was
improved with increasing graphite content on the gray
iron disks suggesting possible overcome of inferior
fade resistance of non-steel linings by using gray iron
rotors with a high graphite content. The effect of
graphite area in the gray iron disk was small in the
case of using steel-containing linings and they showed
a good fade resistance over an entire range of graphite
contents studied in this work.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grant No. 98-552R from
University Research Program (URP) of Ford Motor
Company.
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