Silicon Carbide

[Harbo]

On last Sundays TG, I heard JC stating that the new Maclaren P1Hybrid car has brakes made with a special coating - Silicon Carbide.
Now where else is that material used?

Rod.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I wouldn't like to be in the pit crew when that sucker try's to stop at speed!

 

[bugbear]

On last Sundays TG, I heard JC stating that the new Maclaren P1Hybrid car has brakes made with a special coating - Silicon Carbide.
Now where else is that material used?

Rod.

A quick google reveals that the answer to your question is "far more than just abrasives", which was interesting.

BugBear

 

[Myfordman]

Ever since asbestos went out of fashion, brake pads/linings have had abrasives added to maintain braking performance which is why in the life of a typical road car, two or three sets of brake discs are required which never happened on older cars.

Racing cars obviously need very high performance braking and it is quite likely that new disc for each race is perfectly acceptable so it may well be that SiC is used.

MM

 

[Mike.S]

Ever since asbestos went out of fashion, brake pads/linings have had abrasives added to maintain braking performance which is why in the life of a typical road car, two or three sets of brake discs are required which never happened on older cars.

MM

A side effect of this - replaceable discs - is that garages now try to replace them as a normal consumable e.g. when my car was 4 years old and had only 17k on the clock the main dealer said the discs needed replacing :x I took it to an independent garage and they said they're fine....and they still are another 3 years on.

 

[Harbo]

Well this is a battery powered road legal car whose electric motor produces 170bhp though it does have a petrol engine as well which gives it a total of over 900bhp. Only costs £860k and it's British!

Rod

 

[CHJ]

Its use in brakes is not exactly new technology, a rundown of some of the more obvious from Wiki.

Automobile parts
The Porsche Carrera GT's carbon-ceramic (silicon carbide) disc brake
Silicon-infiltrated carbon-carbon composite is used for high performance "ceramic" brake discs, as it is able to withstand extreme temperatures. The silicon reacts with the graphite in the carbon-carbon composite to become carbon-fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC). These discs are used on some road-going sports cars, supercars, as well as other performance cars including the Porsche Carrera GT, the Bugatti Veyron, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Bentleys, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and some specific high performance Audis.