This work studied the tribological performance of the single and multi-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT and MWCNT) in the disc brake pad formulation. 5 wt.% of nanomaterials were used as lubricant in the formulation. Three brake pads were fabricated with SWCNT, MWCNT and standard synthetic graphite. The friction and wear performance of the brake pads were studied using chase tribometer which follows IS2742. The friction and wear mechanisms were discussed based on the Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) images of the brake pad. The friction performance of the CNTs and graphite is very similar in the macro scale friction test. The wear performance of the SWCNT is ~4 times higher than the regular synthetic graphite used in the brake formulation. The SEM images of the brake pad revealed that the tribo film formation at the interface is uniform and the film transfer is more effective in the case of SWCNT based brake pads. The extension evaluation method was used to rank the brake pads based on the tribological performance parameters.

1Surya Rajan, B; 1Sathickbasha, K*; 1 Balaji, M A S ; 1Selvakumar, A S; 1Rasool Mohideen, S; 1Prince Arockia Doss; 1Mohamed Aslam Noorani, A B; 1Md Usaid Hammad, K. 1B S Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology vandalur chennai, India, 600048.