Friction and wear behaviors of C/SiC composites with different structure

Short fiber C/SiC and 3D needled C/SiC composites were fabricated by reactive melt infiltration. The friction and wear behaviors of two kinds of C/SiC composites with different structure were investigated on an MM-1000 test rig, which was built to simulate airplane normal landing condition. Results showed that the friction coefficients of short fiber C/SiC and 3D needleded C/SiC brake disks were 0.31 and 0.39, the thickness loss was lower than 1.2 μm/cycle and 2.3 μm/cycle and mass loss was lower than 14 mg/cycle and 19 mg/cycle, respectively. The coefficient of friction increased at the end of braking test because of the lower of thermal diffusivity at higher temperature. 3D needleded C/SiC was destroyed during braking test, but the structure of short fiber C/SiC was kept well due to severe damage of 3D needleded C/SiC fiber during reactive melt infiltration.