A braking component such as a brake pad, brake rotor, brake drum or clutch disk is comprised of a metal substrate having a friction material laminated on at least a portion of at least one face of the metal substrate, the friction material being a ceramic-metal composite comprised of a metal phase and a ceramic phase dispersed within each other, wherein the ceramic phase is present in an amount of at least about 20 percent by volume of the ceramic-metal composite. In particular, the braking component is a metal substrate, such as aluminum, having laminated thereto a ceramic-metal composite of a dense boron carbide-aluminum composite having high specific heat and low density.