Asbestos is being replaced throughout the world among friction materials because of its carcinogenic nature. This has raised an important issue of heat dissipation in the non-asbestos brake pad materials being developed for automobiles etc. It has been found that two of the components i.e. carbon fibres as reinforcement and graphite powder as friction modifier, in the brake pad material, can playa vital role in this direction. The study reports the influence of these modifications on the thermal properties like coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and thermal conductivity along with the mechanical properties of nonasbestos brake pad composite samples developed in the laboratory.

• P. Thiyagarajan(Carbon Tech. Unit, Div. of Engg.Materials, National Physical Laboratory)
• R.B. Mathur(Carbon Tech. Unit, Div. of Engg.Materials, National Physical Laboratory)
• T.L. Dhami(Carbon Tech. Unit, Div. of Engg.Materials, National Physical Laboratory)