Assessment of the suitability of a locally developed brake pad through comparative property evaluation with a commercial counterpart

Conventional brake pads contained asbestos from research, having its associated health and environmental concerns. Thus, increasing research attention has been given to the development of asbestos-free friction materials using alternate reinforcement sources. However, selecting an optimum brake pad formulation that all together meets mechanical, tribological, thermal, and physical performance requirements remains a high-complexity multi-criteria problem. In the current study, the suitability of a locally developed agro-industrial waste–based brake pad was evaluated in comparison with a commercial brake pad using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Nine performance criteria were considered which are wear rate (WR), coefficient of friction (FC), thermal conductivity (TC), compressive strength (CS), hardness (H), flame resistance (FR), specific gravity (SG), thickness swell in water [TS(W)], and thickness swell in oil [TS(O)]. Pairwise comparison using Saaty’s scale yielded normalized weights of 0.286, 0.214, and 0.149 for WR, FC, and TC, respectively, identifying them as the most high-ranking parameters. The AHP model demonstrated acceptable consistency (CR = 0.052). Experimental results indicated that the developed composites achieved compressive strengths up to approximately 0.128 MPa and Vickers hardness values up to 29.6 HV (HV100). Thermal conductivity showed a range from 0.00204-0.00668 W/m·K. The measured properties were generally comparable to those of the commercial control under the investigated conditions. The developed brake pad exhibited a suitability index in the range of 0.53–0.56, compared to 0.44–0.47 for the commercial sample, suggesting competitive performance based on the selected criteria. The results indicate that agro-industrial waste–based brake pad composites show potential for application in braking systems. However, further studies involving long-term durability, environmental assessment, and real-service testing are required to fully establish their practical applicability.