Ultrasonic-Vibration-Superimposed Face Turning of Aluminium Matrix Composite Components for Enhancing Friction-Surface Preconditioning

Aluminium matrix composites (AMCs) represent an important group of high-performance materials. Due to their specific strength and a high thermal conductivity, these composites have been considered for the large-scale production of brake discs. However, preconditioning the friction surfaces is necessary to avoid severe wear of both the brake discs and the brake linings. This can be achieved through controlled friction against commercially available brake-lining materials and the formation of transfer or reactive layers (tribosurfaces). Homogeneous tribosurfaces allow for nearly wear-free brake systems under moderate brake conditions. In this work, preconditioning was carried out with a pin-on-disc tester, aiming for the fast creation of homogeneously formed and stable tribosurfaces. The influence of surface microedges perpendicular to the direction of friction on the machined AMC surfaces on the build-up speed and homogeneity of the tribosurfaces was investigated. The microedges were generated using ultrasonic-vibration-superimposed face turning. Thereby, the vibration direction corresponded to the direction of the passive force. For research purposes, the distance of the microedges was changed by varying the cutting speed and feed. The experiments were carried out using AMC disc specimens with a reinforcement content of a 35% volume proportion of silicon carbide particles. Machining was realised with CVD-diamond-tipped indexable inserts. The evaluation of the generated surfaces before and after preconditioning was achieved using 3D laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. It was demonstrated that ultrasonic-vibration-superimposed face turning effectively generated microedges on the AMC surfaces. The results show that larger distances between the microedges enhanced the formation of stable tribosurfaces. Thus, the tribosystem’s steady state was reached quickly. Therefore, the benefits of AMC-friction-surface microstructuring on the generation of tribosurfaces under laboratory conditions were proven. These findings contribute to the development of high-performance AMC brake systems.