Computer modeling of local tribological contacts by the example of the automotive brake friction pair

In the paper the method of discrete modeling (movable cellular automata method) and combined discrete-continuous description of the simulated medium are used to analyze processes occurring in the local contact of the automotive brake system. The characteristic size of the considered region is 1.5 mu m. The following contact situation is simulated: steel fiber coated by an iron oxide film as the brake pad and pearlitic steel also coated by an iron oxide layer as the disc. On the assumption of oxide layer wearing we simulate the iron oxide-iron oxide, iron oxide - metal and metal - metal contacts. The calculation results for the friction coefficient for various contact situations give quite adequate values. For example, for the oxide - oxide system the calculated coefficient is approximately equal to 0.4, while for the metal - metal contact the obtained value varies from 0.7 to 0.9. Analysis of a set of the obtained results allows concluding that oxide is formed more rapidly than the sliding layer, which in turn makes the friction coefficient value stabilized.