Federal-Mogul Touts Copper-Free Friction Material

California will require carmakers to essentially end the use of copper in brake pads by 2025. Federal-Mogul Corp. says its new Eco-Friction product line uses a blend of alternative materials that provide comparable performance in low-copper and no-copper brake pads.

Typical ceramic-type brake material, now widely used in the U.S. and Japan, contains as many as 30 materials. Copper accounts for 5%-20% of the total mass and is considered a critical ingredient.

Federal-Mogul says it used tribological fingerprinting techniques to quickly assess the performance of 1,500 materials. The approach is more thorough and as much as 50% faster in validating an alternative material, according to the company.

Copper prolongs brake system service life, reduces noise and judder and helps stabilize friction characteristics over a broad temperature operating range. But environmentalists say copper in brake dust can pollute water supplies and disrupt wildlife.

Federal-Mogul found no one-for-one substitute for copper. But it did identify several that in concert provide similar performance. Its Eco-Friction brake pads use a variety of abrasives, ceramic particles, fibers, graphite, metal sulfides and minerals.

European carmakers prefer copper-free low-steel brake pad formulas. These products deliver better friction at high speeds that other formulations, but they also generate more brake dust. Federal-Mogul says semi-metallic brake pads sold in the aftermarket and on some North American cars and pickup trucks also contain no copper, but they lack the high-speed performance and low noise characteristics of alternative materials.