Brake Wear Particle Size and Shape Analysis of Non-Asbestos Organic (NAO) and Semi Metallic Brake Pad

Brake wear particles resulting from friction between the brake pad and disc are common in brake system. In this work brake wear particles were analyzed based on the size and shape to investigate the effects of speed and load applied to the generation of brake wear particles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was used to identify the size, shape and element compositions of these particles. Two types of brake pads were studied which are non-asbestos organic and semi metallic brake pads. Results showed that the size and shape of the particles generatedvary significantly depending on the applied brake load, and less significantly on brake disc speed. The wear particle becomes bigger with increasing applied brake pressure. The wear particle size varies from 300 nm to 600 µm, and contained elements such as carbon, oxygen, magnesium, aluminum, sulfur and iron.