Analysis & Optimization of

Pressure Plate

Performed by:-
•Jagat Singh 44 Guided by:-
•Vasudev Sharma 52 Mr. Sunil Swarnkar
•Kshitij Hiralkar 54 (Assistant Professor)
•Chinta Rakesh 56

Christian College of Engineering And Technology, Bhilai

 Index
 Introduction

 Literature review

 Progress in project

 Problem identification

 Objective

 Future scope

 Reference
 Introduction

Vehicles are one of the most important part of our daily life. The
power transmission in the vehicles use a pressure plate in the clutch
and these plates are susceptible to wear and eventually go useless. We,
in this project, are trying to optimize the pressure plate so that it can
work efficiently while improving its life by working on the aspects
that are responsible for its failure.
 Clutch

A Clutch is a machine member used to connect the driving shaft

to a driven shaft, so that the driven shaft may be started or stopped at
will, without stopping the driving shaft. A clutch thus provides an
interruptible connection between two rotating shafts.
 Pressure Plate

The pressure plate is an integral factor in the function of an

automobile’s manual transmission. The pressure plate pushes the
clutch disc, sometimes called the clutch plate, against the constantly
spinning engine flywheel. The clutch disc, therefore, is either
stationary or rotating at the same speed as the flywheel. Friction
material, similar to that found on brake pads and brake drums, causes
the clutch disc to spin at the same speed as the engine flywheel. It is
this friction between clutch disc and flywheel that allows the engine
torque to drive the wheels. Pressure plates are round metallic devices
containing springs and fingers or levers and controlled by the release
fork connected to the shifter.
Pressure plates are round, metallic devices containing springs and
fingers, or levers, and controlled by the release fork connected to the
shifter. All of the clutch components are enclosed in the bell housing
of the transmission, between the rear of the engine and the front of the
gearbox. Structured with clutch plate, springs, covers, and release
fingers, the clutch pressure plate is bolted into the flywheel with the
clutch disc in between them. Classified into two types which are the
diaphragm type and the spring type, the most common pressure plate
being used by most of the vehicle owners now a days is the
diaphragm type.
 Friction Facings or Pads

It is the friction pads or facings which actually transmit the

power from the fly wheel to hub in the clutch plate and from there
to the out put shaft. There are grooves in both sides of the friction-
disc facings. These grooves prevent the facings from sticking to the
flywheel face and pressure plate when the clutch is disengaged. The
grooves break any vacuum that might form and cause the facings to
stick to the flywheel or pressure plate. The facings on many friction
discs are made of cotton and asbestos fibers woven or molded
together and impregnated with resins or other binding agents. In
many friction discs, copper wires are woven or pressed into the
facings to give them added strength. However, asbestos is being
replaced with other materials in many clutches. Some friction discs
have ceramic-metallic facings.
 Common Pressure Plate Problems

• Clutch chatter.

•Oil leakage from the engine onto the clutch assembly.

•Damaged pressure plate release lever.

•A sprung clutch disc hub and improper alignment between the

engine and transmission.

•Clutch slippage.

•Dragging clutch.
 Wear analysis of pressure plate

The wear tracks are generated on the pressure plate and its depth
gradually increases during service until it fails to provide the clutch
engagement. Pressure plates are normally resurfaced by grinding as and
when it develops such grooves. It is only replaced when there is
irrecoverable distortion. Serviced pressure plates surface are usually
composed of transfer layers of carbon and iron oxide mixtures. The dark
patches of such transfer layers are evident of replacing. The carbon can
come from both the pressure plate and the friction pad (having 5%
graphite particles). The presence of iron oxide as tribo-layer can
sometimes reduce wear severity depending upon the particle size.
Therefore, both iron oxide and carbon can help reduce wear severity
while maintaining the required friction for clutching. The difference in
shades on the worn surface of the pressure plate is due to non-uniform
contact of the friction pad during sliding. Perfect conformity in contact
does not happen during clutch engagement leading to non-uniform tribo-
 Objective

Our aim is to make optimization to the pressure plate in order to

•Reduce wear.

•Increase the life.

•Keep the cost minimal.

•Keep temperature under control.

•Reduce of use of the resources.

•Minimize wastage of energy and power developed.

 Common materials used in pressure
plates
 Gray cast iron

 Lamellar pearlitic gray iron

 T-1 Steel

 Heavy-duty service require high carbon and

high hardness to minimize heat checking and
provide higher strength.
 Progress In Project
We continued the analysis on other different materials to get the
knowledge about the specification of other metal on the basis of which
pressure plate performance will improve with respect to thermal
deformation compared to different existing materials so that we will be
able to conclude on the appropriate material which can withstand with its
long life performance and less wear so that the deformation will be
minimized with high performance of the plate. We have analyzed the
mild steel to check the basic performance on the basis of which we are
proceeding for further performance tests by changing to various available
material compositions.
Pressure Plate in Mesh Form (Mild Steel)
Front View Of the Deformed Pressure Plate (Mild Steel)
Side View Of the Deformed Pressure Plate (Mild Steel)
Front View Of the von-Mises Stress Distribution (Mild Steel)
Isometric View Of the von-Mises Stress Distribution (Mild Steel)
Total Deformation Of Mild Steel
Safety Factor Of Mild Steel
Equivalent von-Mises Elastic Strain Mild Steel
Total Deformation of Mild Steel
Equivalent von-Mises Stress Mild Steel
Pressure Graph Of Mild Steel in WorkBench
Front View Deformed Pressure Plate (Stainless Steel)
Side View Of Deformed Pressure Plate (Stainless Steel)
Isometric View Of von-Mises Stress Distribution (Stainless Steel)
Front View Of von-Mises Stress Distribution (Stainless Steel)
Front View Of Deformed Plate (Wrought Iron)
Side View Of Deformed Plate (Wrought Iron)
Front View Of Elastic Strain Distribution ( Wrought Iron)
Front View Of von-Mises Stress Distribution (Wrought Iron)
 Comparison of Minimum and Maximum Stresses of Used Materials

Material Min. Stress Max. Stress Young’s Modulus

(N/mm^2) (N/mm^2) (E) (N/mm^2)

Mild Steel 0.31525 59.053 200x10^9

Stainless Steel 0.99052 56.0697 180x10^9

Wrought Iron 1.113 64.48 210x10^9

 Result And Conclusion

By assessing various results and analysis, we concluded that mild steel

has least deformation whereas stainless steel has minimum stress
distribution among the materials we tested. Therefore stainless steel
has the better properties among the three tested metals.
 Future Scope

Pressure plate is a vital member and our analysis focuses on its

optimization. This will result in the better functioning, less heating
problems, minimized cost and reduced wear. So this project has an
excellent scope in the future in the automobile industries.
 Reference

 MotoIQ.com
 Sadhana Vol. 35, Part 5, October 2010, pp. 585–595. © Indian
Academy of Sciences
 Powder Metallurgy and Metal Ceramics 11(10): 831–834
 Surface and Coatings Technology 190(1): 32–38
 International Conference on Wear of Materials 255: 426–429
 H. W. Sonn, C. G. Kim and C. S. Hong, ‘transient thermoelastic
analysis of composite brake disks’, J. Reinforced Plastics and
Composites, Vol. 14, No. 12, pp. 1337-1361, 1995.
Thank you….