Volume 12 Issue 1 ( March 2025)

Since 1925, asbestos brake pads have been widely used due to their variety of benefits over the other materials. Use of Copper was also considered as crucial in the production of friction material. Due to adverse effects on the human health and environment, use of Asbestos has been banned and in near future, the use of copper will be restricted as well. India is an agricultural country and being the 2nd largest producer of rice and sugarcane, abundant agricultural waste of rice husk and sugarcane bagasse is available. Majority of the crop residue are burned to manage such huge amount of waste, causing environmental pollution. The objective of this study was to utilize this huge amount of agricultural waste to develop novel Asbestos-free, copper-free brake pad friction material (BFM). The samples have been made by hot compression method by varying the percentage of rice husk (RH) and sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) with Phenolic resin as binder. RH has been employed as friction modifier and SCBA as filler. Brass chips were added as one of the substitutes for copper. Two formulations developed have been characterized by physical test, Mechanical tests, experiments on friction test rig, investigation using pin on disc and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). It has been observed that both density and hardness were higher for sample 1. The average Coefficient of Friction (COF) for both samples were 0.36 and 0.4 respectively, found to be suitable for automotive brakes. The cumulative wear has been found to be higher for sample 1, in spite of higher hardness. Both samples showed similar behavior and good temperature resistance by retaining 80% of their mass at 600OC in TGA, was the most promising thing.

Keywords: Asbestos free; Copper free; Rice husk; Sugarcane Bagasse; Agricultural waste