Design, Construction and Testing of an Automotive Brake Pad Test Rig

This paper describes the design and construction of an automotive brake pad testing equipment that can be fitted into an existing diesel engine output rotor. The functionality of the design was tested by using the test equipment to evaluate the performance of three types of commercially available brake pads (i.e. asbestos, semi-metallic and ceramic). The wear rate of each brake pad was determined at different brake disc speed and the applied force on the brake pedal. The braking effectiveness of each brake pad was evaluated in terms of stopping time. The effect of brake disc temperature rise on wear rate was also evaluated for each of the brake pads. The results show that the wear rates of the three brake pads are satisfactory and are comparable with standard values. The ceramic brake pad is the most effective from the viewpoint of braking time and hence stopping distance. This is followed by the asbestos type while the semi-metallic brake pad is the least effective. The ceramic brake pad was observed to wear faster than either the asbestos or the semi-metallic brake pads.