Development of Asbestos Free Aramid Fibre based Friction lining Material for Automotive Application

The usage of asbestos-free material has grown in the automotive, aviation, and marine sectors due to its carcinogenic nature. The present investigation is to evaluate the non-asbestos organic friction material for automotive applications using aramid fibers. The aramid fibers or pulp is one of the essential ingredients of friction material as it possesses good qualities of friction material like high wear resistance and reliability. The present work is to optimize the pulp required for the best performance of friction lining material for brake pads in the automotive industry. The pulp percentage is varied by 0, 5, 7.5, and 10 weight percentages in hybrid composite friction materials. The various mechanical, wear and microstructural analysis are studied. The experimental result revealed that friction material having 10 wt% of aramid fiber (AF) proved the best performance with superior mechanical and wear characteristics.