Dry tribological behavior of 0/90° continuous carbon fiber reinforced ZrB2 based UHTC-material

In this work, we investigated the behavior of ZrB2-10 vol% SiC ultra-high temperature ceramics reinforced with 0/90° carbon fiber under braking/sliding conditions. The tested samples were paired with a steel disk and a C/C-SiC disk. The tribological behavior was evaluated using a self-designed dynamometer, applying a rotational energy of 5.4 MJ (0.5 MJ per braking event) and two different pressures, 1 and 3 MPa, during braking. The friction coefficients were relatively stable with mean values of 0.86 and 0.40 for 1 MPa and 3 MPa, respectively, when paired with the steel disk, and 0.80, 0.55 for 1 MPa and 3 MPa when tested with C/C-SiC disk. Surface analysis after the tests revealed the presence of different friction film structures. Specifically, friction films composed solely of pad material or a combination of pad and disk material were observed.