Comparative study of the effects of treatment techniques on the mechanical properties of Kenaf (Hibiscus canabinus) fibre reinforced Brake Pads

Abstract

Asbestos fibre has been used as the traditional base material in brake pads manufacture, but due to its health hazard, non-renewability, cost, non-biodegradability and difficulty in processing, its replacement has been sought. This paper reports the effects of some fibre treatment techniques namely: mercerization, acetylation and semi-carbonisation on the performance of Kenaf fibres. The treated kenaf fibres which are considered biodegradable, cost effective, renewable and user friendly have been used as a possible base friction material for brake pad production. results indicated that they all the four kenaf brake pad samples behave differently during performance evaluation. Of all the samples studied, Mercerized kenaf brake pad samples exhibited high values of Rockwell hardness of 101+1.379 HR and an Impact strength of 20.86+0.704KJ/cm² on the average. Compressibility test indicated that Acetylated fibre based samples also show high  compressive strength of 0.86+0.058KN/mm² as compared to Crude, mercerised and semi-carbonised fibre based kenaf brake pads.

Keywords: treatment techniques, kenaf fibre, comparative study, brake pads