Braking Performance of Hybrid Fibers Reinforced Brake Pad with Latex Particle Modified Phenolic Resin Binder

A latex particle modified phenolic resin was designed and developed to manufacture organic brake pad for electric power locomotive brake. The braking performance was evaluated on a full-scale test bench at Vehicle Inspection Station of Product Quality Monitoring Center of Railway Ministry, People’s Republic of China, according to the Europe standard UIC 541-3: 2006 and Standard of China Railway Ministry TB/T 3118-2005 (the central line speed at brake pad was 41.8 m/s at the highest speed of 200 km/h). The test results indicated that the average dry friction coefficient of the brake pad under different braking speeds ranged from 0.29 to 0.57, the average static friction coefficient was 0.47, and the wear rate of the pad was 0.2 cm3/MJ after 36 times of braking tests. All the above results satisfied the required values of UIC 541-3: 2006. No bulges, loss of rubbing material, cracks and metal-embedded deposits were observed on the brake pad after the whole tests. FTIR analysis results indicated that chemical structure of the pad was similar to the polymer matrix, and no obvious tribochemical reactions were confirmed. All the results suggest that the new type organic brake pad may realize application for the brake of “Hexie” electric power locomotive.