How Does a Car Brake System Work?
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Master Cylinder
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When you step on the brake pedal in your car, you are really depressing a plunger within your car's master cylinder. The master cylinder is a component that has a reservoir filled with hydraulic brake fluid. When the plunger in the master cylinder is acted upon, brake fluid travels to each wheel's breaking unit passing through a series of tubes and hoses. Brake fluid is incompressible, so absolutely no pressure is lost when it travels through the tubes. Think of it as a steel bar that is able to make turns through pipes in order to get to the wheels.
Calipers
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Brake fluid cannot contain any air bubbles due to the fact that air is compressible. If air bubbles are suspected to be present in the braking system, the entire system must be drained (or bled) to remove the air. Once the fluid has arrived at the braking units, it is forced into a caliper. Calipers consist of two hinged components that, once the pressure from the fluid is present, press against a piston.
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Brake Pads and Rotors
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Attached to each wheel is a disc called a brake rotor. The rotor rotates with the wheel and moves completely in unison with it. The rotor is placed in such a way that its edge is between the caliper and the piston. The rotor is pinched when the brakes are applied, and this slows the car down. However, there are brake pads between the rotor and the caliper pistons. Brake pads are composed of two parts: the steel backing, which supports the other part, the actual friction material that comes in contact with the rotor. This material does the work by converting the motion of the rotor into heat energy through friction. The friction that takes place slows down the rotor, which is attached to the actual wheel, and produces heat.
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