Investigation of surface characteristics and tribological behavior of clutch plate materials

The surface characteristics and tribological behavior of clutch plate materials strongly affect the lifetime of the clutch and influence the dynamic behavior of the entire vehicle. The friction coefficient between the friction plate and the separator plate decreases with the number of engagement cycles. As a result, the transmission torque decreases with time. In this study, the surface characteristics of clutch plate materials have been investigated since it is closely related to friction. WYKO optical surface profiler with TTM module and a GM created special fixture were used to measure the surface characteristics of various clutch plate materials under different contact loads. In addition, the tribological behavior of the clutch plate materials has been studied. A UMT2 micro-tribometer was used to measure the friction characteristics of various clutch plate materials under dry and lubricated conditions. The effect of the loading and the sliding speed on the friction coefficient has been investigated. The correlation between the surface characteristics and the friction behavior of clutch materials was explored. The tested samples were analyzed to quantify the wear volume. The completion of the study provided a better understanding of the relationship between the material structure and the performance of clutch plates and can be used as a reference for clutch material selection and transmission design. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.