Investigations of airborne tire and brake wear particles using a novel vehicle design

Non-exhaust emissions have become an increasingly important issue as their levels continue to rise and the health effects of particulate matter (PM) are more widely discussed. To address this issue, a vehicle demonstrator with integrated emission reduction of tires and brakes was developed as part of the Zero Emission Drive Unit Generation-1 (ZEDU-1) project. This novel concept includes the removal of tire road wear particles (TRWP) with a strong ventilation/filtering system and an enclosed multi-disk brake, making it a suitable tool for the investigation of non-exhaust emissions. Particle number (PN) and particle size distribution (PSD) measurements down to 2.5 nm were performed on a chassis dynamometer and on a test track. Due to the low background concentrations on the chassis dynamometer, it is possible to distinguish between tire and brake wear and to characterize even a small number of particle emissions. It could be shown that about 30 % less particles are emitted by the vehicle, when using the novel multi-disk brake instead of the conventional brake. The highest TRWP emissions were collected during acceleration and harsh braking. Characterization of the collected particles using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) revealed diverse particle shapes and differences between particles generated on the dynamometer and on a test track. Graphical Abstract