Comparison of performance and tribological properties of electromechanical brake with magnetorheological fluid and magnetic powder

Brakes, which are the safety component of any automobile used to control the motion of the vehicle as per the driver's choice. In conventional brakes, friction lining materials are used, which affect the health of human beings and pollute the environment. Hence, there is a need to look for new types of brake systems. In the present work, a new type of electromechanical (EM) drum brake is designed that does not use friction lining materials for brake application. It can use magnetorheological (MR) fluid as well as magnetic powder (MP) for brake application. The presented brake has been designed to operate in hybrid mode that is, shear plus compression mode. When MR fluid is used, these brakes face the problem of the leakage of MR fluid which motivates to use of MP. In addition to the design of the new brake, the performance of the new brake has been tested with MR fluid and MP separately on a full-scale brake inertia dynamometer. The performance test results have been compared for both MR fluid and MP and compared with conventional friction brakes. 14.56% and 11.38% more braking torque have been observed for MP compared to that of MR fluid in shear and hybrid mode respectively. In addition to the performance study, the effect of MR fluid and MP on brake shoe surface properties has been studied.