brake rotor thickness

[kartikey]

what factors determine the thickness of the brake rotors? is there any mathematical relationship to determine the thickness of the brake rotor ?

[kartikey]

what factors determine the thickness of the brake rotors? is there any mathematical relationship to determine the thickness of the brake rotor ?

[oz_olly]

I would guess one of the major factors that determines brake rotor thickness is the energy the braking system is required to dissipate/absorb. My Stumpjumper mountain bike has discs that look like lace and are about 2mm thick (2 discs) where as the discs (vented) that I have seen on an S2000 rally car are about 20mm thick (4 discs). Me and my bike weigh about 125kg, I think the rally car would be about 1200kg. So it must be somewhat proportional to the mass of the vehicle and the speed which it has to slow down from. I'm lucky to reach 65km/h where as the S2000 probably has no dramas reaching 200km/h on a tarmac rally.

Cheers

Olly

[Wesley]

I would imagine you need to consider things such as swept area, clamping area, mu temperature sensitivity and corresponding desired brake temperatures for your pad material, and thermal balance between front and rear rotors for predictable and braking feel.

Remember, dKE of car ~= dQ of brake rotors. More or less.

[pablo180]

One thought would be to make them as thin as possible to reduce rolling mass and allow for tighter packaging, and another would be to have sufficient thickness such that the disc would not warp due to rapid heating/cooling operating condidtions.

I think a good place to start would be to have a general idea as to what calipers you will be mating the rotors with as an upper boundary, then do some analysis to determine the final thickness.