The hydraulic brakes presently used in cars exhibit several important limitations. These include the slow response to the driver's command, difficulties in control due to the hydraulic nature of the system; and a large number of components spread throughout the car with critical components such as the disk surface, the brake pads and the fluid pipings vulnerable to damage from gravel or other external sources. To overcome these problems, intrinsic to the concept of hydraulic brakes, a new system must be devised. Solutions are sought in the use of smart materials, including the application of piezoelectric or electrostrictive materials and electrorheological or magnetorheological fluids to car brakes. A detailed study of each material is carried out, in terms of their possibilities and limitations. It is seen that present piezoelectric and elect rostrictive materials are unable to meet the performance requirements needed for application to car brakes and that electrorheological fluids are less suitable than magnetorheolical fluids for this application. Consequently, an innovative car braking system is designed using magnetorheological fluids. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
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