Abstract
Disc brake manufacturing for railway vehicles has become a popular fieldfor assessing the possibilities of MMC application during recent years. The substitution of conventional ferrous materials by light alloys allows for a significant reduction in the rotating masses in a vehicle bogie which leads to a decrease in energy consumption. The use of conventional aluminium casting alloys is not suitable to solve this. Castable MMC materials are a highly promising alternative. Under economic pressure MMC solutions are required to be not only mechanically superior but also cost effective, and due to the low ductility of these particle reinforced materials there is a needfor new concepts. Locally optimised discs consist of a ductile carrier (body) with wear resistant rubbing surfaces. This led to several prototype disc brakes being manufactured by various casting processes. This paper gives an overview of the state of the art and newly developed manufacturing routes and materials, metallic and non-metallic, for rail disc brake applications.
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