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At the Friction Holdings Technical Center,
the alphabet isn’t
limited to R & D.
Technology is fundamental to our efforts at Friction Holdings. We have built the world’s most advanced Technical Center for wet friction materials in Crawfordsville, Indiana. It is staffed by specialists in chemistry, paper technology, metallurgy, and mechanical and chemical engineering. Our Technical Center staff has pioneered a number of techniques that accelerate development and testing of friction materials.
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Material Research & Development
Our Crawfordsville Technical Center conducts research and development on material formulation, bonding, saturation, and other areas of product development. It also provides technical and application engineering support for all heavy duty and automotive applications.
Materials are tested on a wide range of dynamometers, ranging from standard SAE #2 machines to an 8-speed transmission coupled to a 335 kW motor used for testing wet wheel brake products. A variety of special inertia dynamometers and other friction testers round out our testing capabilities. In addition for support of OEM the Technical Center include SAE #2 dynamometers, torque converter dynamometers and durability testers, and special equipment for testing limited slip differential and transfer case applications. Prototype production and component testing are also performed at this full service facility.
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Early Design Involvement
 At Friction Holdings, we’ve achieved success by partnering with customers who assign value to the design assistance that we can bring to their projects. A key element of these partnerships is the participation of Friction Holdings engineers on customer design teams.
We stress early design involvement, which allows us to advise customers on component design and to optimize material formulations. We employ a project-centric focus that spans the entire product development and manufacturing process, from design concept through prototyping, to first part submission.
Technical Data Publishing
 Technical data on our friction materials, as well as related technical issues and studies, are published as part of our Tech DataSM system. Product Data Sheets list performance and test data on each of our materials.
Another source of technical information is our extensive archive of published papers and presentations. Since 1922, members of our staff have been regular contributors to technical societies such as SAE, STLE, ASME, IMechE, and others.
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Prototype Development
 Simply stated, the purpose of prototyping is to achieve confidence in the integrity of the design. At Friction Holdings, we consider prototypes to be valuable design communication tools that allow us to perform testing, verify engineering recommendations and, ultimately, protect product quality and reduce time-to-market. Our facility is equipped with an array of analytical and testing equipment that enables us to provide reliable, production representative prototype components and move quickly to first part submission.
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