Are ceramic brake pads better than metal brake pads?
With the development of automobile technology, the materials of friction materials are also evolving, which are mainly divided into several categories:
Type brake pads
Before the 1970s, the brake pads contained a large amount of asbestos, which is characterized by high temperature resistance, fire resistance, and strong friction. However, due to the powder produced by asbestos in the process of production and use, it can cause various damage to the human body, which is easy to cause respiratory system damage. Diseases can even cause cancer, so currently asbestos brake pads have been banned worldwide.
Then the current organic brake pads are generally also called NAO type brake pads (Non-Asbestos Organic, non-asbestos organic brake pads), which generally contain 10%-30% metal materials, in addition to plant fibers, glass Fiber, carbon, rubber, glass and other materials.
Through years of development and material improvement, organic brake pads have good performance in wear resistance and noise control, and are also more suitable for daily driving. There is also less dust generated and less damage to the brake discs. However, due to material costs and other reasons, organic brake pads are generally slightly more expensive, and are generally used on mid-to-high-end models when the original factory is loaded.
semi-metal brake pads
The so-called semi-metal is mainly about 30%-65% of the friction materials used in this brake pad are metal materials - including copper, iron and so on. The main characteristics of this kind of brake pads are fast heat dissipation, good high temperature resistance, and relatively low price. The disadvantage is that due to the material, the noise during braking will be large, and the metal material will also wear more to the brake disc.
Since semi-metal brake pads have the characteristics mentioned above, there are two main application directions at present. One is the original matching brake pads of low-end and medium-end models - this is naturally the feature of lower price. The other direction is mainly in the field of modified brake pads - due to the high temperature resistance of metal brake pads, it is more suitable for high-performance cars or used in various events. After all, in this usage scenario, the maximum temperature of the brake pads will reach or even exceed 800 degrees Celsius in minutes. Therefore, we can see that many modified brands have a high proportion of metal materials for brake pads for intense driving and competitions.
Ceramic brake pads
Ceramic brake pads can be said to make up for the lack of type and semi-metal brake pads. Its material is mainly composed of mineral fibers, aramid fibers and ceramic fibers and other materials. On the one hand, since there is no metal material, the noise will be significantly reduced when the brake pads rub against the brake discs. At the same time, the damage to the brake disc during the friction process will also be significantly reduced.
In addition, the friction coefficient of ceramic brake pads can remain stable under high temperature conditions, which avoids the attenuation of braking force caused by the melting of materials of organic or metal brake pads during long-term or high-speed braking, which greatly improves safety. Also more durable.
Of course, ceramic brake pads are not without their shortcomings. The biggest disadvantage is naturally that they are expensive. A set of carbon-ceramic brakes is tens of thousands of dollars per minute. In addition, in low temperature environment, the performance of ceramic brake pads will be slightly worse than that of metal brake pads.
