Effects of Particle Size and Composite Composition of Carbon Microparticles as Reinforcement Components on Resin-Based Brake Pad Performance

This study aims to investigate the effect of particle size and composition of bamboo and clove leaves as reinforcement components on resin-based brake pad performance. Bamboo fibers contain cellulose and lignin, making them better mechanical properties compared to glass fibers. Clove leaves due to their containment of oil components can be used, playing roles in binding bamboo with resin material. In short, experiments were done by involving polymerization of polyester resin as an adhesive with methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) at room temperature. The composition of polyester/MEKP/reinforcing components was fixed at a mass ratio of 10/1/1.76 and the particle size of the reinforcing components were 582 and 250 m. Reinforcing components were mixed carbonized bamboo fiber and dried clove leaves with a ratio of 4/1; 7/1; and 10/1. The results showed that smaller particles has better mechanical properties, and the more amount of bamboo particles give positive impacts on the material hardness. The best hardness value (reaching 24 N/cm2) and smallest pore volume (0.0213 cm3) were obtained when using the ratio of 10:1. While the smallest weight loss of mass at the rate of 0.1225 g/min was obtained by the ratio of 7/1. The largest friction coefficient and lowest wear rate were obtained by 4/1 with a value of 0.1108 and 1.08 g/s.mm2, respectively. This study demonstrates the use of biomass waste such as bamboo fiber and dried clove leaves as an alternative to asbestos and reduces the abundant waste of bamboo powder and dried clove leaves in Indonesia.