TMD Friction Announces a New Air Disc Brake Friction Material for Heavy Duty Applications

Tom Green

Nashville/Tennessee, March 10, 2013– At a press conference held at the T.M.C. Annual Meeting TMD Friction announced the launch of a new friction material for heavy duty applications using air disc brakes. The new material is designated Textar T3080 and is engineered for applications where high torque levels are required to meet the FMVSS121 Stopping Distance Regulations. In addition, Textar T3080 already meets the 2014 and 2021 “Better Brakes Rules” environmental regulations for heavy metals and copper content, an upcoming challenge facing the brake friction industry.

Multiple friction levels are required to best optimize pad and rotor life for different truck, tractor, and trailer applications and T3080 rounds out Textar’s North American Air Disc Brake Friction product portfolio by adding a material for the most extreme torque applications on the road. As the North American heavy truck market shifts more to air disc brakes, a key issue is the cost justification of this new brake product. Tom Green, Managing Director of TMD Friction North America noted,  “If  disc brakes are to  replace drum brakes in large numbers, their  acceptance will be based on  initial and life cycle costs when compared to drum brakes.  Disc brakes cost more upfront, so it is critical to maximize life and minimize operational costs.   Textar now has four different friction materials for the North American air disc brake market. Each is designed to optimize the life cycle costs for a particular duty cycle”.

Jim Clark, TMD’s Director of Engineering for NAFTA adds, “You don’t have to look far to find examples of multiple levels of brake lining friction to optimize brake life. Current drum brake linings on North American commercial vehicles have three distinct friction levels that rate at 20,000 lbs., 23,000 lbs., and the higher GAWR’s. While the formulation, quality, and consistency of any friction material product has a lot to do with its wear properties, a basic rule of friction science  simply states, ‘the lower the friction, the longer the life of the friction material’. This also applies to the rotor. The lower the friction of the disc pad material, the longer the rotor will last. Besides improved life, having multiple friction levels is the best way to address brake balance problems the disc brake faces when mated to drum brakes. We have already seen disc/drum brake compatibility as an issue in working with several large fleets.”

In dynamometer wear tests, two air disc friction materials with different effective coefficients of friction were tested by TMD. Results showed that with a higher effective coefficient of friction (0.38) the pad wears anywhere from 40% to 80% more than the lower friction pad (0.28). “Given the large difference in wear rates between the high and low ends of the typical friction range, it is important to select the appropriate friction level in order to maximize pad life,rotor life and maintain safety,” states Clark. “This is why TMD has developed multiple friction materials for North America, Textar - T3050, T3070, and T3080.  They cover all the GAWR ratings. We also offer a special material, one of the European market leadersTextar T7400, for the transit bus and refuse truck market.”

Performance and life cycle costs are not the only advantage of the Textar T3080 Air Disc Brake pad.   It is also the first of a new generation of low copper friction materials from TMD that are compliant to the upcoming 2014 and 2021 Environmental Regulations in the States of Washington and California. “TMD Friction is an environmental leader within the friction industry”, states Tom Green. “Almost a decade ago the company was instrumental in the development of the ECO-Table, a set of ecological/environmental classification standards for friction materials. The product portfolio of TMD Friction has been constructed consistent with those standards and is being improved continuously. Textar T3080 is just another example of TMD’s commitment to protecting the global environment through better brakes.”

About TMC

TMC is America's premier technical society for truck equipment technology and maintenance professionals. TMC features a diverse membership of equipment managers, service-dealers, owner-operators, industry suppliers and manufacturers, educators, academia and others that support the trucking industry. TMC member fleets represent the broad range of industry vocations, including truckload, less-than-truckload, municipal, private, on/off-highway, construction and other operations. Find out more about TMC online athttp://tmc.truckline.com.

About TMD Friction

TMD Friction is among the world's leading manufacturers of brake friction materials for the automotive and brake industries. Its product portfolio comprises disc brake pads and drum brake linings for passenger cars and commercial vehicles together with brake pads for racing cars and friction materials for rail and industrial applications. TMD Friction is one of the largest suppliers to the global replacement parts aftermarket with its Textar, Pagid, Mintex, Don and Cobreq brands. Brake pads for rail and industrial applications are developed and produced under the brand names Cosid and Dynotherm. TMD Friction has operations in Germany, the United Kingdom, and three other European countries, as well as in the US, Brazil, Mexico, China, Japan and South Africa. The TMD Friction Group employs approximately 4,800 people worldwide. For further information please visit www.tmdfriction.us or www.tmdfriction.com.

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Tom Green                                                                                                                         Tim Pelargus

Managing Director NAFTA                                                                                               Corporate Communications

TMD Friction Inc.                                                                                                              TMD Friction Holdings GmbH

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