Using carbon and ceramics in braking systems offers significant advantages over other materials, but the processes involved in their manufacture are considerably lengthy and more expensive – why are they so expensive and is it worth the cost?
COOL UNDER PRESSURE
Perhaps an indicator to their eventual cost, the use of heat resistant carbon/ceramic based materials originated in the ever so expensive endeavour of space exploration.
The undersides of NASA’s space shuttles were covered in silica ceramic tiles designed to resist the friction heat generated when re-entering the atmosphere – and where the temperatures were at their highest reinforced carbon (RCC) was used, most notably on the nose cone and leading wing edges.
Surface Transforms plc (LON:SCE) are experts in the development and production of carbon-ceramic materials and the UK’s only manufacturer of carbon-ceramic brakes for automotive use.