81 What are the advantages of Carbon Fibre Brakes ?
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This article is from the Motorsport FAQ, by A H Henry bspahh@midge.bath.ac.uk with numerous contributions by others.
81 What are the advantages of Carbon Fibre Brakes ?
A carbon/carbon setup gives a coefficient of friction of about 0.6 as
compared to 0.4 for a carbon/steel pad/rotor setup.
The extra friction generates extra heat. Carbon brakes work best in
the 600 to 800 C range. They're terrible cold and as such aren't
suitable for street use. Steel brakes fade at the temperature that
carbon brakes work at. Carbon brakes atart fading at 2000 C.
Carbon discs are MUCH lighter than steel ones (1300 grams per vs. 4
kg for a steel disc). This is a big difference in unsprung weight and
is also useful for lowering the weight of an F1 car to the limit.
Carbon discs and pads are much longer lasting than steel ones. In
F1, they'll go the entire weekend even for a big buck team. Smaller
teams find that the rotors last three weekends. In the 24 hours of
LeMans in '91, the Mazda only changed its pads once, as opposed to 17
times for the Porsches.
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