Suggested Research Method for Testing Selected Tribological Properties of Friction Components in Vehicle Braking Systems

The braking system is one of the most important systems in any vehicle. Its proper functioning may determine the health and life the people inside the vehicle as well as other road users. Therefore, it is important that the parameters which characterise the functioning of brakes changed as little as possible throughout their lifespan. Multiple instances of heating and cooling of the working components of the brake system as well as the environment they work in may impact their tribological properties. This article describes a method of evaluating the coefficient of friction and the wear speed of abrasive wear of friction working components of brakes. The methodology was developed on the basis of Taguchi’s method of process optimization.