A brake disk or drum has at least one working surface which opposes a braking member such as a brake pad or shoe. A plurality of spaced, raised island formations are provided across the working surface, with channels extending between the island formations. Each raised island formation has an outer surface which contacts a brake pad or brake shoe during braking.

A vehicle braking system reduces particulate emissions resulting from wear of the brake pad and rotor during stopping or slowing of a vehicle. The rotor includes at least one friction surface, that has an outer coating of a corrosion and wear-resistant material. This outer coating can optionally include a first layer comprising a crystalline material and a second layer overlaying and contacting the first layer and comprising an amorphous material. The first layer and the second layer can optionally have an inter-layer period of less than 10 nm such that the structure of the outer coating is that of a superlattice. A brake member that includes a friction material is mounted to a caliper on the vehicle with the friction material disposed opposite the at least one friction surface so that the friction material reversibly engages with the outer coating of the corrosion and wear-resistant material when the braking system is operated to stop or slow the vehicle. Contact between the friction material and the outer coating results in substantially reduced conversion of the friction material to dust while producing an improved coefficient of friction relative to standard braking systems. Related systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles are also described.

A bore cutting tool for cutting metal workpieces includes a tool substrate and a tool coating on a surface of the tool substrate. The bore cutting tool includes a plurality of pits in the surface of the tool substrate and wherein the tool coating extends over the pits such that the pit surface includes the tool coating. In this way, the pit dimensions can be retained over prolonged tool life and the pits, with their coated surface, are particularly effective at retaining lubricant so that the thickness of a lubricant film can be increased as compared to a tool without the coated pits. In the embodiments, the pits are formed by laser etching and are present only on the cylindrical land. Average pit depth is suitably in the range 8 μm to 25 μm, average pit width and pit length is independently selected from 40 μm to 250 μm and average pit density may be 20 to 30 pits/mm.sup.2.

Methods of creating a hook for a bike rack. The methods include the steps of providing a planar metal material, cutting a two-dimensional shape from the planar metal material where the two-dimensional shape defines a hook precursor, forming the hook precursor into a three-dimensional hook where the three-dimensional hook includes a hook face, and adding a protective layer to the hook face. In some examples, the methods include processing the three dimensional hook to remove sharp edges, cutting a mounting point into the hook precursor, cutting a bevel on an edge of the hook precursor to define a beveled edge, and/or cutting a curve on an edge of the hook precursor to define a rounded edge.

A brake disk or drum has at least one working surface which opposes a braking member such as a brake pad or shoe. A plurality of spaced, raised island formations are provided across the working surface, with channels extending between the island formations. Each raised island formation has an outer surface which contacts a brake pad or brake shoe during braking.

A method for manufacturing a product from a flexibly rolled strip material includes the steps of: providing a strip material made from sheet steel; flexibly rolling the strip material such that a variable thickness is produced along the length of the strip material; electrolytically coating the strip material with a metallic coating material containing at least 93% of zinc by mass after the flexible rolling; heat treating at temperatures above 350° C. and below a solidus line of the coating material after the electrolytic coating; working a blank from the flexibly rolled strip material; and hot forming the blank.

A method for surface treating a golf club head, includes: (a) forming a depression unit in the golf club head, the depression unit being indented inwardly from an outer surface of the golf club head, the outer surface being divided into a working area and a non-working area, the depression unit being formed in the working area; (b) filling the depression unit with a shielding material and covering the non-working area with a covering material; and (c) sandblasting the golf club head after step (b) and removing subsequently the shielding material from the depression unit and the covering material from the non-working area so as to form the working area into sandblasted and non-sandblasted regions that differ in gloss intensity.

A tool for forming a shaped product has a support body that is fabricated from a first material, such as for instance cast iron. The first material defines a first portion of a forming surface of the tool and has a feature supported thereon. The feature has a layer of a second material that is supported on the first material of the support body, a layer of a third material that is supported on the layer of the second material and a layer of a fourth material that is supported on the layer of the third material. The layer of the fourth material, such as for instance a tool steel alloy, defines a second portion of the forming surface of the tool. During use the first portion of the forming surface and the second portion of the forming surface cooperate to form a desired shape of the shaped product.

A brake disk or drum has at least one working surface which opposes a braking member such as a brake pad or shoe. A plurality of spaced, raised island formations are provided across the working surface, with channels extending between the island formations. Each raised island formation has an outer surface which contacts a brake pad or brake shoe during braking.

Methods of creating a hook for a bike rack. The methods include the steps of providing a planar metal material, cutting a two-dimensional shape from the planar metal material where the two-dimensional shape defines a hook precursor, forming the hook precursor into a three-dimensional hook where the three-dimensional hook includes a hook face, and adding a protective layer to the hook face. In some examples, the methods include processing the three dimensional hook to remove sharp edges, cutting a mounting point into the hook precursor, cutting a bevel on an edge of the hook precursor to define a beveled edge, and/or cutting a curve on an edge of the hook precursor to define a rounded edge.