DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NATURAL HYBRID COMPOSITE USING BANANA PEELS AND BAMBOO LEAVES AS ALTERNATIVE TO ASBESTOS BASED BRAKE PAD MATERIAL

The use of asbestos fiber is being avoided due to its carcinogenic nature that might cause health risks. A new brake pad was produced using Bamboo leaves powder, Banana peel powder, silicon carbide is to replace asbestos and phenolic resin as a binder is evaluated in this study. A Bamboo leaves sieved into sieve grade of 100microns and Banana peel sieved into sieve grade of 50microns were used. The sieved bamboo leaves and banana peel particles were then combined with silicon carbide and resin in varying condition. The mechanical properties (Tensile strength, hardness, wear rate, and coefficient of friction) of the produced samples were investigated. This study is to optimize the process by applying the taguchi method with orthogonal array design. This approach is based on signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) are employed to study the performance characteristics. A 55% bamboo leaves powder, 7%banana peel powder, and 4%Silicon carbide resulted in better hardness. 55% bamboo leaves powder, 7%banana peel powder and 3.5% silicon carbide resulted in better wear rate and coefficient of friction of the produced samples. The result of this work when compared to asbestos brake pad which is not recommended due to carcinogenic property showed close agreement.