Wear investigation of wet clutch friction material

Wear of friction plates for wet clutch applications can result in a decreasing transmittable torque and the occurrence of vibrations throughout the entire drive chain causing loss of performance and discomfort. The need for a simple wear model exists to predict the lifetime of the clutch and to give an insight in the combined influence of the operational parameters such as pressure and speed. In this paper wear of paper-based friction material is investigated on a simplified SAE#2 test-rig using only one friction plate and one spacer plate. During engagement torque, applied pressure and sliding velocity are continuously monitored. After a set number of engagement cycles the thickness change of the friction plate is measured and surface topography of the spacer plate is registered. Based on Archard’s wear law a specific wear rate is derived