ABSTRACT This work presents the function of biobased ingredients (palm fiber) as reinforcement in brake pad materials. Reinforcement in brake lining improvise wear stability, wear resistance and friction optimization under a dynamic set of operating variables such as braking force, sliding speed, braking duration and braking temperature. The effect of palm fiber on physical, mechanical and tribological properties of brake pad composite is evaluated. The percentage of palm fiber is gradually increased from 2% to 12% at an interval of 2% as an alternate of rockwool fiber by varying the pressure and speed in a pin on disc tribometer. By increasing the pressure, 8% and 10% shows high friction stability at all speeds. The results show that the raise in the palm fiber quantity increases the hardness, specific gravity and heat swell and the properties, loss on ignition and porosity decreases. The SEM descriptions of the composite indicated that the smaller micro voids occurred in the sample having low palm fiber. Weight gain in the composites were also observed by exposing them in salt water, water and oil.

ABSTRACT A series of E-Glass fiber reinforced polyurethane (PU)/vinyl ester(VER) resin interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) composites were prepared. The Mechanical Properties like tensile, flexural and impact of IPN composite were studied. Results revealed that addition of PU increases the impact strength by 8.33%, 7.69%, 14.28%, 12.5%, 11.11% for the proportinate of 0%PU, 10%PU, 20%PU, 30%PU, 40%PU, 50%PU respectively, at the slight expense of decrease in flexural and tensile modulus. The obtained experimental results were compared with the Finite Element Analysis data's (ANSYS 10). The comparison shows good agreement with experimental data's.

In this paper, a high-friction composite material based on the combination of binder, friction modifiers, fibers and fillers is investigated. In the binder, up to 20% of phenol are replaced by cardanol with various weight ratios of 100/0, 95/5, 90/10, 85/15, 80/20. Cardanol may react both through the phenolic group and the double bond of the side chain yielding addition, condensation and polymerisation reactions that allow the synthesis of tailor-made products and polymers of high value. In the present work, mechanical, thermal and wear characteristics of cardanol based phenolic resin with organic ingredients were manufactured and tested. An analysis of microstructure characteristics of composites was carried out using scanning electron microscope. The effect of environment on the composite was investigated in water, salty water and oil. The results showed that the addition of cardanol reduces the wear resistance and increases the compressibility which reduces the noise propensity.