Damping Behaviour of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Grafting on Carbon Fiber Reinforced Friction Material

An automobile's braking system plays an important role to control the vehicle at various operating speeds. At present, the brake friction industry is mainly focused on effectiveness of braking in addition to aesthetic considerations of an automobile. In this research, carbon fiber reinforced friction material is developed by grafting multi-walled carbon nanotubes functionalized (MWCNTS-F) on CF surface. The surface of CF is basically chemically inert and hydrophobic in nature and needs to be modified by grafting MWCNTS-F on its surface to increase hydroxyl or carboxyl groups. An attempt is made to improve the bonding strength between CF, polymer matrix and the remaining ingredients. Carbon fiber content after surface modification is varied in weight percentor wt% (2%, 3%, 4% and 5%) and mixed with the remaining ingredients of friction material. Composite sheets are prepared using hand lay-up method and characterized for damping, SEM, TGA and FTIR analysis. It is observed that MWCNTS-F grafted on CF 3 wt% possess good damping results. The results also reveal that, optimum selection of ingredients and surface treatment method on CF is the main reason for improvement of the composite’s interfacial adhesion and damping behavior.