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Okay, this conversation lead me to our DOM, who is one of those very smart people when it comes to stuff like this. And he even showed me a video that was quite informative.
First of all, carbon brakes as installed on airplanes do not have ceramic in them. So, they don't "glaze" in the way that auto brakes do (which was cited in this conversation).
When carbon brakes are used, carbon bits are worn off of the brake components and create friction between each other (rotors and stators). At first these carbon particles are very big and consequently cause A LOT of wear at lower temperatures. As the temperature in the brakes increases these particles get smaller and smaller and ultimately become almost like a film between the rotors and stators. As the brakes are heated toward 150 deg C the level of wear increases rapidly, until the 150 degree point is crossed, at which point the wear rate decreases to its lowest level. So the hotter they are, the lower the rate of brake wear.
The point being that when you use a set of carbon brakes (on airplanes) you want to get them as hot as possible as quickly as possible. And once they're hot, keep them that way. Long brake applications during taxi are still taboo, as we agreed. The preference being short bursts of braking from around 20 knots to a near stop. Let it speed up, then slow it down, never just drag them.
The manufacturer even suggested that turboprop operators use the brakes instead of reversing the props when possible, for example. The main thrust of the thing being this: If you're going to use the brakes, then light those suckers up. Don't be gentle with them. They must get hot to work their best.
