Ceramic brake blocks - specificity and nuances of technology.
Quarter of the century back manufacturers of brake blocks most advantageously applied asbestos as a part of a frictional material: its properties guaranteed stable and high enough factor of a friction, and a high temperature threshold (to 800 °) supposed a wide field of operation of substance. However, asbestine a component has also a number of minuses. The basic - ecological danger: as a result of a friction the material throws out a dust which is late in air, and getting to lungs, the serious damage causes to health.
And here, in the early nineties, in many countries of the world, campaign for replacement of ecologically dirty product on more safe materials started; necessity of search of equal replacement to asbestos became sharp. Experiments with, for example, steel fibres, reinforcing threads from kevlara have begun, fiber glass etc. So there has come the period of organic and metal pads.
However, the fresh technological stream was brought by company Akebono which has invented effective frictional structure with the ceramics additive - so-called ceramic brake blocks. The invention has made revolution in the industry of brake blocks as showed excellent indicators - absence of noise and vibration, and also constant factor of a friction at wide temperature amplitude. The present ceramic brake blocks did not contain some ferroalloys, and thus there was no contact piece "metal-metal" between pads and a disk (fraught not only the raised deterioration for a disk, but also "zalipaniem" surfaces). Company Power Stop, the USA became one of the first manufacturers of pads on such technology.
However, for today there is no definition - how many and what elements should contain ceramic brake blocks. Thus, the manufacturer could take a metal pad, spray some portion of a ceramic material in frictional structure and to name its ceramic. It has led to a wide variety of indicators in work of brake blocks of different manufacturers. And as consequence - to responses and opinions of consumers.
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