DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF ASBESTOS-FREE BRAKE PADS PRODUCED FROM COSTUS AFER WASTE AND LOCAL GUM ARABIC

Abstract

This study dealt with the development and evaluation of a new asbestos-free non-carcinogenic brake pads with Costus afer waste (CAW) particle as the base material. Three sets of brake pads with different sieve sizes (90, 100 and 200 µm) were developed, through compression molding from a 55% CAW particles, 22% local gum Arabic as binder, 5% of rubber seed husk and 5% of walnut shell as fillers, 10% iron filling as frictional addictive, 1% of carbon black as friction modifier, 1% of cobalt nepthanate as catalyst and 1% of Methyl ethyl ketone as accelerator. Physico-mechanical test were carried out on the CAW-based brake pad with a Brinell hardness test value of 103HB and density of 1.3 g/cm3 which is far better than the commercial available brake pad upon comparison. These properties were found to increase with a decrease in particle sizes while the water absorption, oil absorption, wear rate, and flame resistance increased with increasing particle sizes due to enhanced porosity. The developed CAW-based brake pad especially with the grain size of 90µm, shows a better wear performance as compared to the control commercial brake pad. The overall results of the evaluation were further compared with similar asbestos-free brake pad in literature. The study can conclude therefore that the CAW-based brake pad stands as a better replacement for the existing commercial asbestos-based brake pads