Effect of operation conditions to rice plant fiber reinforced composite on coefficient of friction and wear rate of brake lining

Abstract

Composites made from a combination of rice plant fiber, fiberglass, aluminium powder and polyester resin are potential materials to be used as brake lining. In addition to the properties of the composite material itself, operating conditions also affect the performance of the brake lining. Therefore, this study is aimed to investigate the effect of operating conditions on the coefficient of friction and the wear rate of the composite when used as brake lining. The coefficient of friction and the wear rate tests were carried out on composites made of 40% fiber rice plant, 40% polyester resin, 10% fiberglass and 10% aluminium. The tests were carried out at a pressure of 30 kg/cm2 and a speed of 2000 rpm. The operating conditions applied in this study were dry, water, salt water and brake oil. The test results show that the highest coefficient of friction was the dry operating conditions of 0.643 and the lowest coefficient of friction was the operating condition using brake oil of 0.586. While the wear test results showed the highest wear rate in dry operating conditions of 81.25 mm3/hour and the lowest wear rate in operating conditions using brake oil of 68.34 mm3/hour.