Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

The paper concerns the study of changes in responses of spring for drum brake systems, due to fatigue cycles conducted at operational regimes of vehicles with respect to the number of kilometers. Three types of springs from two manufacturers were examined i.e. double cylindrical, single cylindrical, and conical helical. The springs were subjected to a durability test up to 1×106 loading cycles, covering 300-500 thousand kilometers traveled. Tensile test was used for collecting differences between results for the tested object in the as-receive state and after fatigue. Values of the Pearson correlation coefficient were used to indicate differences between tested objects before and after loading cycles. They show that the obtained results expressed a very strong correlation, which means that the elastic response of the springs during operation over a distance of 300-500 thousand kilometers did not change significantly. Taking into account the recommendations of brake system manufacturers regarding the replacement of brake drums after 150,000 and 50,000 kilometers, respectively, it can be concluded that brake springs are the most durable and reliable element of such a brake system.

drums, springs, fatigue, reliability