Pin-on-disc (PoD) testing is widely used to investigate the sliding behaviour of materials and relevant wear mechanisms under different tribological conditions. The approach has been also profitably applied to the characterization of materials for brake systems to obtain specific information on the wear mechanisms. In the present study, the transient thermal analysis of a pin made with a friction material dry sliding against HVOF coated and uncoated pearlitic cast iron disc in a PoD apparatus was investigated by means of a finite element analysis together with experimental measurements. The aim of the investigation was to model the surface contact temperature in this sliding system to highlight the role of the different surface conditions, i.e., coated and uncoated, on the evolution of the pin and disc temperatures during sliding. In addition, we propose a simplified analytical equation for estimating the average temperature rise in the contact region during sliding, by extending the Kennedy approach in order to be able to provide a quick evaluation of the contact temperature for this kind of couplings, what is very helpful when characterizing a large number of systems in different contact conditions.

The tribological behavior and the related airborne particles emission of three copper-free automotive friction materials are investigated. The tests were conducted using a pin-on-disc tribometer equipped with a specifically designed clean-enclosure chamber for the emission measurement. Particle number concentration from particle size 0.3 µm up to 10 µm and the mass of emitted particles between 1 µm to 10 µm were measured. Particular emphasis was given to the chemical composition of the bulk materials, the friction layers and the emissions, in order to explain the acting wear mechanisms, and the recorded emission of airborne particles. The results indicate that the recorded emissions do not correlate with the friction coefficient and the wear rates, since the wear mechanisms exert a different influence on the tribological and emission behavior of the materials under study.