As is well known, a vehicle's braking force is as crucial as its horsepower or torque value. When driving, especially during emergency braking, you instinctively rely entirely on the brakes for safety—both for the vehicle's structure and your own. The design of the braking system inherently considers the vehicle's weight and power, aiming to generate sufficient braking force to counteract the torque of the rotating brake discs and bring the wheels to a complete stop. This is the direct result of the friction material on the brake pads.
1.Friction materials
The difference between friction materials lies not only in the difference between binders and reinforcing fibers, but also in the difference between fillers. Fillers can be divided into the following parts:
1. Grinding fillers, which increase the friction coefficient, are usually materials with Mohs hardness harder than iron, such as zirconium silicate, magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide, etc.
2. Wear reducing fillers, such as graphite and molybdenum disulfide, play a role in reducing friction and adjusting the smoothness of brakes, as well as balancing the wear of brake pads on brake discs.
3. Functional fillers are mainly used to fill the gaps in the upper material while balancing other properties of the friction material, such as friction coefficient, noise, vibration, thermal degradation, etc.
The formula of each brake pad manufacturer is different, and a formula may use dozens or even hundreds of materials. Through different ratios of different types of raw materials and continuous adjustment and improvement, the overall performance of the brake pads is balanced. It is not necessarily the case that any one material plays an absolute role, for example, if there is no iron, there will be abnormal noise, and if there is no iron, there will be no noise. Can you believe that there are many videos online that teach you how to identify the quality of brake pads? To distinguish by the attraction of the magnet to the friction material, 1. The attraction is very strong and contains a lot of steel fibers; 2. It has some appeal and contains a small amount of steel fibers; 3. Very low attractiveness, without steel fibers and iron powder. The above can only distinguish whether the friction material contains steel fibers or how much they are present, and cannot explain much else. In short, the performance of brake pads depends on the different ratios, mutual compensation, and balance between different raw materials. This tests the R&D and manufacturing capabilities of friction plate manufacturers.
The development of a formula requires a significant amount of time, funds, personnel, equipment, etc. While developing the formula, it must be combined with its own production equipment and processes. Relying on imitation or imitation is not feasible. And each friction material formula is confidential to each manufacturer and will never be leaked to other manufacturers. So when you hear the formula from * * manufacturer advertised in the market, you can just laugh it off.
2.Different friction materials correspond to different application scenarios
                                                                          Half metal formula
Low erosion of brake discs, relatively long service life, easy rusting, low noise, friction coefficient generally 0.37-0.39, suitable for daily street use.
                                                                          Ceramic formula
Ceramic brake pads are completely different from the ceramics that people understand or come into contact with in daily life. They are called ceramic formulas because they contain ceramic fibers. The characteristics of this formula are extremely low wear on brake discs, long service life of brake pads, friction coefficient of 0.38-0.41, extremely low dust content, good noise control, but it is expensive and needs to be used in conjunction with brake discs. Nowadays, the market often claims that it is a ceramic formula, just like oil often claims to be fully synthetic oil, which is indeed misleading consumers.
                                                                          Low metal formula
Compared to semi metal and ceramic formulations, the wear of brake discs is greater, the service life is shorter, the dust is larger, the friction coefficient is 0.4-0.45, and noise is more likely to occur, but the high-speed braking effect is better.
                                                                          Mixed formula
This formula is created by mixing a low-metal formula with a ceramic formula. Its advantage lies in compensating for some of the shortcomings of both low-metal and ceramic formulas, while also sacrificing some of their advantages.
From the above, it can be seen that judging the quality of a brake pad requires evaluating its performance! It is not simply a matter of saying which formula is stronger than another. Different application scenarios correspond to different formulas.
Lastly, just like the engine, braking is an area that cannot be overlooked and deserves your time to research. When you decide to embark on a journey, please ensure that your brake pads are up to the task.