Failure Analysis of Brake Plate Clamps of Plane

The carbon/carbon brake plate clamp of a plane fractured during service. Fracture morphology, microstructure, micro-area composition and micro-hardness were analyzed by means of stereo microscopy, metallographic microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The analysis results indicate that the failure mode is fatigue fracture, which is related to the insufficient bearing capacity, resulting from the significantly lower material hardness and lots of band-like oxide inclusions in the microstructure. It is recommended that the material heat treatment process, raw material defects and part assembling tolerance should be strictly controlled.