Raw Materials
for Brake Friction Materials
(Binder for brake friction material
utilizing plant resources as a biomass)

About 10 to 20 kind of raw materials are mixed and bound with phenolic resin and molded to brake pads. Conventional phenolic resins, used as binder for friction materials, are derived from fossil resources.

Akebono is working on developing friction materials with both environmentally friendly and higher performances by using phenolic resin which effectively composed biomass derived material.

Material design

We have developed a technology to obtain resins in which woody fibers are dispersed. The technology consists of synthesis of phenolic resin and fibrillation of the wood flour (lignin + cellulose fiber) at the same time.

It is generally difficult to compound woody nanofiber and phenolic resin because nanosized materials are easy to aggregate. However, akebono developed an original technology to disperse the woody nanofibers uniformly into the phenolic resin.

Wood flour
Woody microfiber
/ phenolic resin composite
Woody nanofiber
/ phenolic resin composite

Features of the friction materials with woody fiber / phenolic resin composite

The binder resin composed with plant resource (biomass) has characteristics such as reinforcing friction material, reducing thermal expansion, and reducing brake noise and vibration during braking.