Testing of mechanical characteristics of coconut fiber reinforced for composite brake pads for two-wheeled vehicles

Brake pad is the most important part of the braking system as a vehicle safety feature, which functions to slow down or stop the motorized vehicle. Generally, brake pads are made of non-asbestos and asbestos materials that contain carcinogens. Non-asbestos brake pads have several advantages, which are environmentally friendly, not noisy, and have a good temperature resistance and friction resistance. Brake pads must qualify the value of the coefficient of friction (μ) dan has low wear also to qualify braking system requirements on motorized vehicles. Hardness values also need to be studied further, because if the brake pads very hard it will affect the disk rotor's performance. Furthermore, the density and porosity of the brake pads also need to be known to get brake pads that qualify the properness of motorized brake pads. This is to determine the ability of brake pads made from natural fiber composites based on test standards for motorized brake pads. The composition of manufacture of composite brake pads consists of coconut fiber which is given alkaline treatment as reinforcement then mixed with an epoxy resin as a matrix and the filler addition of alumina and magnesium oxide as a friction modifier. The composite brake pads then tested for hardness, wear rate, coefficient of friction, density and porosity to determine the mechanical characteristics. The results of the tests between composite brake pads with comparative brake pads with successive values for hardness (97.27 HD and 99.05 HD), specific wear rates (2.99 x 10-7 cm³/Nm and 1.77 x 10-7 cm³/Nm), coefficient of friction (0.41 and 0.43), density (1.93 gr/cm³ and 2.42 gr/cm³), porosity (19.72% and 11.89%). The result show that the composite brake pads with the coconut fiber as reinforcement are comparable with brake pads on the market.