EURO 7 to Regulate Brake Dust Emissions
The new revision of the EURO 7 Legislation has resulted in a big step forward for the MAT Foundry Group in the monitoring and reduction of its brake dust emissions.
What is EURO 7?
The EURO 7 legislation has been a long time in the making, with its first proposal in November of 2022. This piece of European legislation stands to improve air quality by protecting it from the impacts of automotive transport.
Whilst previously covering exhaust emissions, the new revision of EURO 7 now covers dust emissions from brake and tyres. MAT Foundry Group, specialising in the manufacture of automotive brake rotors, stands resolute in the search for low-dust brake solutions.
The regulation covers a wide range of different vehicle categories, both light and heavy. The category of interest for MAT Foundry Group is M1 passenger vehicles, particularly for the European market.
Brake Dust Emissions
Traditional friction brakes use a tribo-couple that consists of a brake pad and brake rotor. The pads are compressed onto the surface of the rotor to generate friction forces that result in a decelerating torque.
The very process of friction entails wear of the pads and rotor. This leads to particulate matter being released into the atmosphere. The wear particles from the pad and rotor can vary significantly in size but the target focus of the new regulation are those in the PM10 category. These are particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 microns or less.
These finer particles present a significant risk to human health, by way of their inhalation, particularly in urban areas and centres of high population density.
Brake Dust Testing
The long process of establishing new legislation has taken place alongside the development of a robust dust testing procedure. Brake rotors are routinely tested upon inertial dynamometers that put the brake rotors, pads and callipers through their paces.
A new testing methodology is required to capture the dust from the pad and rotor and to categorise the quantities into size categories. The repeatability and accuracy of this testing method, specified by Global Technical Regulation 24, is essential to determine which brake rotors and pads conform to these new clean air limits.
A prolonged bedding-in period is used to establish a stabilised wear rate of pad and rotor and thus reliable dust emissions measurements.
Latest Vote
Just days ago, on 13/03/2024 the European Parliament voted to adopt measures to reduce automotive transport emissions. There were 297 votes for, 190 votes against and 37 abstaining.
Whilst the European Green party and others, were less than satisfied with the result, owing to the similarity of the exhaust emissions to the previous issue of EURO 6, EURO 7 takes radical steps in other areas. This is the first time that brake dust and tyres will be measured and limited - Also mandating battery durability requirements.
European Rapporteur Alexandr Vondra has said:
“We have successfully struck a balance between environmental goals and the vital interests of manufacturers. We want to ensure the affordability of new smaller cars with internal combustion engines for domestic customers and at the same time enable the automotive industry to prepare for the expected transformation of the sector. The EU will now also be addressing emissions from brakes and tyres and ensuring higher battery durability.”
Next Steps
The next steps are for the Council to formally approve the agreement before it can enter into force.
The 130 page adopted text P9_TA(2024)0153 will now be formalised into secondary legislation. The International Council on Clean Transportation reports that entry into force will likely be by Q2 of 2024.
This will create a type-approval system for brakes and tyres. The EURO 7 legislation will first apply to M1 passenger vehicles after 30 months of the legislation being entered into force. This would result in PM10 dust emissions being first limited for brakes in December 2026 for new vehicle types. One year’s additional grace is provisioned for new vehicles.
From an environmental perspective, this is a colossal step. MAT Foundry Group are excited to be part of the future, putting significant resources behind the development of new braking solutions that meet all the environmental and customer needs.