Study of mechanical and physical properties of natural hybrid composites

Brake lining is one of the components in the braking system that directly rub against the rotating drum or disk. The ability of brake lining can be seen from several things including being able to absorb the amount of kinetic energy when braking, having good hardness, low water absorption. Previously, brake lining was made of asbestos material which has resistance to high temperatures reaching 800?C, but asbestos material has a negative impact on the environment and human health. This research was developed to overcome these problems, namely finding alternative brake lining materials that have good impact strength, good hardness and do not interfere with the health of the driver of the vehicle and are environmentally friendly. This paper describes the mechanical and physical properties of the developed brake lining material. This brake lining material is made from basalt powder, shellfish powder, alumina powder and phenolic resin polymer as a binder with five variations of weight fraction. This material was made through a sintering process at a temperature of 150°C with a pressure of 2000 kg for 30 minutes, then each specimen was tested for impact strength using a Charpy impact test according to ASTM D 6110 standard, hardness was tested using Vickers test according to ASTM E384-99, and water absorption based on ASTM D 570-98 standards. The average impact strength of brake lining specimens was obtained at 0.0003327 J/mm², better than the average impact strength of brake linings from asbestos material. While the hardness obtained was the lowest 24.72 VHN and the highest was 26.55 VHN, still better than the asbestos brake lining of 24.75 VHN, and the highest water absorption of the brake lining specimens obtained was 0.041558 still lower than the water absorption of asbestos brake lining.