Polymer derived ceramic matrix composites for friction applications

The use of polymer derived ceramics (PDCs) has been slowly increasing in the aerospace and friction markets as matrix materials for ceramic composites. They have demonstrated exceptional properties as brake rotors and wear parts but their cost has severely limited large scale insertions into the market. A new family of lower cost ceramic forming, siloxane based polymers has been developed that yields ceramic materials similar in behaviour to higher cost carbosilane derived ceramics. This paper discusses the new PDC class and provides a comparison demonstrating the similarity in properties. Both polymers have been utilised as the matrix for brake rotors and the lower cost PDCs have shown slightly better friction performance in an automotive brake rotor application.