Production and Characterization of Brake Pad Developed from Natural - Based Reinforcement Material Using Multi - Response Optimization Technique

Abubakar Muhammad, Hayatuddeen Ibrahim Abdulahi, Joseph Abutu

Abstract: Over the years, asbestos has been used as a reinforcement material in the production of friction lining but due to its hazardous nature, it has lost favour. As a result, there is need to find a possible replacement for asbestos. Many authors have carried a lot of work on the replacement of asbestos using different material with the aim of finding a possible replacement for asbestos. In this work, coconut shell was used as reinforcement material together with other materials (epoxy resin, graphite and barium sulphate) with the aim of finding possible replacement for asbestos. Experimental design was carried out in accordance with Taguchi L933 design technique using Minitab. Samples production was done using constant weight percent of 50% reinforcement, 30% binder, 12% abrasive and 8% friction modifier. The mechanical, tribological and physical properties of the composite were also studied. The results showed that sample 7 produced with moulding pressure, moulding temperature and curing time of 12 MPa, 110 ?C and 11 minutes respectively gave better results in terms of its mechanical, tribological and physical properties. Also, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis (confirmatory test) results revealed that the percentage errors obtained for individual responses were below 10% which showed that the experimental procedures were conducted under minima noise effects and the developed regression equations can be adopted for prediction of the friction lining performance. In addition, the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) conducted on the sample 7 showed that the thermal properties of the best samples compared well with commercial sample and can be applied in automobile whose temperature at brake do not surpass 322.3oC.

Keywords: Friction lining, coconut shell, Taguchi, mechanical, tribological, physical properties