Low Cost Surface Treatment for Enhanced Wear of Stainless Steel Brake Components

Aircraft braking components operate at high temperatures in extremely harsh service environments.  This requires the use of expensive cobalt-base torque-drive inserts for demanding wear conditions in multi-disk A/C brakes.  This paper will describe the benefits of using a low cost stainless steel drive insert treated with an adherent lubricious oxide coating for wear resistance against several types of torque-bar drive coatings.  Reciprocating friction and wear testing, using a modified ASTM D5707 method, at different temperatures will be presented.  Results from a new reciprocating galling-threshold test for several different wear-couples will also be presented.