I've made brake rotors out of Lead, Aluminium, and Copper.



In this video, I make Brake Rotors from scratch auto of Lead, Aluminium, and Copper alloy. I chose these metals because they are very different one to each other.
It was relatively easy to cast Lead and aluminum. The tricky part was to cast copper because of its height melting point ​(1084.62 °C, ​1984.32 °F).

I didn’t know what to expect when I tested the brake disc made of copper alloy. I thought it would melt, but it didn’t.
For the Rotor made from aluminum, I melted cans made from aluminum alloy Al 3004 / Al 5182 and some Grounding wire Al5052. I was not surprised that it is brittle and breaks into pieces subjected to massive forces.
Lead is very soft and highly malleable. It made a spectacular show in our video; because of the friction, the Disk started melting, spurting like a stream, and solidified instantly before falling to the ground.

Rotors Weigh:
– Original cast iron 3,9 kg/8.5lb
– Lead 8,2kg/18lb
– Aluminium 1,7kg/3.7lb
– Copper 5,6 kg/12.3lb

The moral of the story: Don’t make brake Rotors out of Lead 🙂
Enjoy!

WARNING: This video is only for entertainment purposes. If you rely on the information portrayed in this video, you assume responsibility for the results. Have fun, but always think ahead, and remember that every project you try is at YOUR OWN RISK.

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49 thoughts on “I've made brake rotors out of Lead, Aluminium, and Copper.”

  1. Cooper is actually a decent material for a brake disk or brake pads… Unlike aluminum which is brittle and lead which is soft…..
    To be fair i was impressed by the aluminum surviving so long.

    Reply
  2. ただの鋳造だと成分にムラが出来て真円が…出来るか?が疑問

    各金属の放熱比較で言えば…
    銅は熱の伝導がアルミや鉄よりも良いから動画の発想は、面白いですね。

    Reply
  3. You know that you can use an Aluminum Matrix material for brake rotors and they work extremely well. The material was an aluminum powder integrated with carbide in a ball mill for a month or so. Then melted and cast into vented rotors. It required diamond tooling to barely machine and required a new tap that was tini coated to thread form not cut each thread. They were extremely hard wearing and required a specialist pad material . However they were able to dissipate far more heat and when tested in a race car that would usually require new rotors and pads (cast iron rotors) after each race they only needed pads and the rotors lasted a season of 15 races. I saw them when they came back and they still looked good enough to use for another 15. However they didn't like severe thermal shock and would buckle and extrude if under pressure when that occurred. Thermal shock being water flooding when at max operating temp. Also sitting stationary when at operating temp with the pads applied under pressure, they would chill in that spot and then vibrate the pedal. On the race car they made a huge difference braking wise compared to an equal weight ferrous setup. Copper has also been used historically for brake pads as well as clutch facings. in the 60's racing minis would use copper pads on iron rotors as the material back then didn't like the high heat and would produce a gas barrier reducing effectiveness, unlike copper that would just make the iron glow red.

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  4. Диски надо проточить на токарном станке, отбалансировать, и потом проводить эксперименты. А так это хуйня

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