In spite of unparalleled combination of essential material properties for brake linings and clutch facings, replacement for asbestos is seriously called for since it is a health hazard. Once asbestos is replaced with other material then composition and properties of brake pad changes. In certain cases hardness of the material may be high enough to affect the rotor material. In this study, hardness of the brake pad has been controlled using suitable reinforcement materials like glass, carbon and Kevlar pulp. Brake pad formulations were made using CNSL (cashew net shell liquid) modified phenolic resin as a binder, graphite or cashew dust as a friction modifier and barium sulphate, talc and wollastonite as fillers. Influence of each component on the hardness value has been studied and a proper formulation has been arrived at to obtain hardness values around 35 on Scleroscopic scale. Friction and wear properties of the respective brake pad materials have been measured on a dynamometer and their performance was evaluated.

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.