A method of making a wet friction material layer includes adding a media in liquid form to a material base including filler particles embedded in a matrix of fibers; drying the media to solidify the media on the filler particles such that the media plugs holes in the filler particles; adding a binder to the material base; and unplugging at least some of the holes in the filler particles by removing at least some of the media from the material base.

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for forming a composite structure comprising rotating a base layer of an apparatus for forming the composite structure about an axis of rotation, transferring carbon short fibers from a first vibratory feed ramp onto the base layer in order to form a plurality of fibrous layers in the composite structure, and vibrating the first vibratory feed ramp during the transferring the carbon short fibers. The base layer may comprise an annular shape.

A friction material includes a base, a deposit including a friction modifier, and a resin disposed throughout the friction material. The base includes aramid fibers present in an amount of from greater than 50 weight percent to 70 weight percent, based on a total weight of the base. The base also includes a filler present in an amount from 30 weight percent to less than 50 weight percent, based on a total weight of the base. The friction material is also free of a material having a thermal degradation temperature of less than 200 C. The friction material may have a porosity of from 60% to 85% as determined using ASTM D4404-10 and a median pore size of from 0.5 m to 50 m, as determined using ASTM D4404-10.

A brake pad unit for a disc brake assembly. The brake pad unit comprises a backing plate and a friction pad. The backing plate comprises a first side and a second side having a length L, a width W, and an edge wall which defines a thickness T of the backing plate. The first side defines an engagement surface for engaging with the disc brake assembly. The second side defines a friction material mounting surface. The backing plate is formed from a composite material comprising reinforcement fibres, wherein the composite material extends throughout of the backing plate. The backing plate comprises a layer of reinforcement fibres which are provided as continuous fibres which extend from a first point on the edge wall to a second point on the edge wall. The friction pad comprises a friction material provided on the friction material mounting surface of the backing plate.

In some examples, the disclosure describes a method including densifying a layer of carbon fibers by at least one of depositing a resin on the layer of carbon fibers via a print head of a three-dimensional printing system or applying CVD on the layer of carbon fibers via the print head; and forming at least one additional layer of densified carbon fibers on the densified layer of carbon fibers, wherein forming the at least one additional layer of densified carbon fibers comprises, for each respective layer of the at least one additional layer, adding an additional layer of carbon fibers on the densified layer of carbon fibers, and densifying the additional layer of carbon fibers by at least one of depositing the resin on the additional layer of carbon fibers or applying CVD on the additional layer of carbon fibers. In some examples, the example method may be used to form a densified carbon-carbon composite component, such as, e.g., a densified carbon-carbon composite brake disc.

A method for forming a friction material includes mixing a fibrous base material and filler particles to form a substrate; saturating the substrate with a silane solution including a silane to form a uniformly impregnated silane matrix; curing the uniformly impregnated silane matrix to form a cured uniformly impregnated silane matrix; saturating the cured uniformly impregnated silane matrix with a non-silane binder solution to form a uniformly impregnated silane, non-silane matrix; and curing the uniformly impregnated silane, phenolic resin matrix to form the friction material.

A friction material for a clutch pad, including a fiber material and a filler material. The fiber material includes a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface and a thickness between the first and second surfaces. The filler material includes tung oil and phenolic resin. The Lung oil is saturated within the fiber material from the first surface through a first portion of the thickness, while the phenolic resin is saturated within the fiber material from the second surface through a second portion of the thickness.

In some examples, a method includes depositing a mixture including a resin and an additive powder via a print head of a three-dimensional printing system to form a carbon fiber preform including a plurality of individual carbon fiber layers, wherein each individual layer of the plurality of individual carbon fiber layers includes a plurality of carbon fibers and the mixture of the resin and the additive powder.

A shaped material (1, 1), for example a disk for a disk brake, preferably a ventilated disk, includes a plurality of layers of material (6) in a spiral shape, overlapping along a development axis (X). Each layer of material (6) it is formed by a fabric (2) predominantly or exclusively made of carbon fibres (8), at least part of the layers being impregnated by an impregnating agent. A method is for the manufacture of a shaped material.

A method for manufacturing a brake pad preform for disc brakes is provided. The method involves preparing a thermosetting mixture by mixing a polymer resin in liquid form or particle powder form and ceramic particles in powder form, combining the thermosetting mixture with a carbonaceous material composed of carbon fibers to obtain a molding compound, molding the molding compound by compaction and heat treatment to obtain a crude preform, and subjecting the crude preform to a pyrolysis treatment to obtain the brake pad preform. A brake pad preform or a brake pad obtained by the manufacturing method is composed of a carbon-carbon composite composed of a matrix of carbonaceous material and carbon fibers in which the ceramic particles are uniformly dispersed in the matrix of carbonaceous material.