A special feature of the carbon ceramic brake discs is represented by the ceramic composite material. This material is obtained through a particular process, which gives the possibility to add or deposit a layer of material to improve the friction coefficient on both the braking surfaces.
The core and the additional friction layer are made by a composite material, which is composed by carbon fibers (reinforcement), silicon carbide and metallic silicon (matrix).
Silicon carbide, the main matrix component, assures great hardness for the composite material while carbon fibers guarantee high mechanical strength resistence, providing the fracture toughness required in this kind of applications.
The resulting quasiductile properties of the ceramic composite material combine the useful properties of carbon fiber-reinforced carbon (C/C) and polychrystalline silicon carbide ceramics. The deformation at breaking point of C/SiC materials ranges from 0.1 to 0.3 %. This is an exceptionally high value for ceramics.
The entire characteristic profile makes fiber-reinforced silicon carbide to a first-choice material for high-performance brake systems: in particular the low weight, the hardness, the stable characteristics also at high pressure and temperature, the resistance to thermal shock and the quasiductility provide long life time of the brake disc and avoid all issues, which are typical for cast iron brake discs.