Experimental analysis on friction materials for supplemental damping devices

•The frictional behavior of steel, brass, sprayed aluminum and three types of rubber all sliding on steel is investigated.•The cyclic behavior of six interfaces is experimentally tested under cyclic loads.•Static and dynamic friction coefficient of the interfaces is evaluated.•The influence of flat washers or cone annular springs on the magnitude of the sliding force is investigated.•An analytical model able to predict the response of three of the investigated interfaces is proposed. In this paper, the friction coefficient and the cyclic response of different interfaces for friction devices are investigated by means of experimental tests under displacement control. In particular, six interfaces have been tested: steel–steel, brass–steel, sprayed aluminum–steel and three different rubber based friction materials adopted, respectively, in automotive applications, electrical machines and applications requiring low wearing. Static and kinetic friction coefficients have been evaluated and the influence of the interface pressure has been analyzed. The variation of the sliding force during the cyclic loading history has been investigated by comparing also the response coming from the use of different washers: circular flat washers and cone shaped annular disc springs. The work is aimed at the investigation of friction materials to be applied within the connecting elements of beam-to-column joints according to the double split tee configuration with friction pads.