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Introduction

Brake pads are a component of disc brakes used in automotive and other applications.
Brake pads are steel backing plates with friction material bound to the surface that faces the disk
brake rotor. Brake pads convert the kinetic energy of the car to thermal energy by friction. Two
brake pads are contained in the brake caliper with their friction surfaces facing the rotor. When
the brakes are hydraulically applied, the caliper clamps or squeezes the two pads together into
the spinning rotor to slow or stop the vehicle. When a brake pad is heated by contact with
a rotor, it transfers small amounts of friction material to the disc, turning it dull gray.
The brake pad and disc both now with friction material, then stick to each other,
providing the friction that stops the vehicle. In disc brake applications, there are usually two
brake pads per disc rotor, held in place and actuated by a caliper affixed to a wheel hub
or suspension upright. Although almost all road-going vehicles have only two brake pads per
caliper, racing calipers utilize up to six pads, with varying frictional properties in a staggered
pattern for optimum performance. Depending on the properties of the material, disc wear rates
may vary. The brake pads must usually be replaced regularly (depending on pad material), and
most are equipped with a method of alerting the driver when this needs to take place.
Some are manufactured with a small central groove whose eventual disappearance
through wear indicates that the pad is nearing the end of its service life. Others are made with a
thin strip of soft metal in a similar position that when exposed through wear causes the brakes to
squeal audibly. Still others have a soft metal tab embedded in the pad material that closes
an electric circuit and lights a dashboard warning light when the brake pad gets thin.
The five common characteristics that are considered when selecting a brake pad material
are as follows are the materials ability to resist brake fade at increased temperatures, the effects
of water on brake fade. All brakes are designed to withstand at least temporary exposure to water.
The ability to recover quickly from either increased temperature or moisture. Service life as
traded off versus wear to the rotor and lastly the ability of the material to provide smooth, even

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contact with the rotor or drum rather than a material that breaks off in chunks or causes pits or
dents.
Objectives

To improve automotive safety condition in Malaysia using TRIZ problem solving.

To achieve the best design solution that improving without sacrificing others features.

To invent new design that is more green environment and friendly user that is safer.

To use TRIZ problem solving technique to solve problem better and more efficiently.

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Problem Statement

Organic type of brake pad could wear quickly which could cause the inability of braking.
As we drive our vehicles around, the brake pad is under work as we applied brake. This type of
brake pad create great amount of dust as its tear down. This could be dangerous when the dust is
released into the air during driving. Other than that, the dust also could be trapped within clutch
or brake. To make thing more dangerous, this dust cause a bad effect to the person who do the
work of changing the brake pad.
So, it is the mechanic or the person who deals with brake pad changing would face to
face with those trap dust. This puts them into risk for inhaling those microscopic fibres. This
exposure may not show any consequence soon but in quite of time the symptom would arise.
Aside from health issue, organic material of brake pad also has less strength of gripping when
braking. Meanwhile, braking is very crucial especially for evading sudden movement from the
front. This is because we as drivers would expect instant stop from braking during emergency.
In order to solve this problem, an option presently includes changing the type of brake
pad

material which is whether metallic or semi-metallic. Even though, using metallic material

could overcome the disadvantages of organic material but the metallic material itself has its own
impacts like higher cost, inefficient during cold condition, loud noise and has greater wear on the
brake disc. These are due to the metallic property itself. Therefore, to solve this problem TRIZ
problem solving technique would be used in order to overcome the impacts of replacing organic
material of brake pad. As conclusion, the expected outcome from TRIZ solving is to create a

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type of brake pad that is affordable, safe to health, reliable in braking and has a longer duration
of lifetime.
As a conclusion for our product we take Perodua as a model. The material brake pad that
Perodua use is Non Asbestos Organic (NAO). This also called organic pads, these are made of
fibres of glass, carbon or rubber. As they are made of fibrous glass material, they are soft and
silent while braking. But it not last longer, as there is faster wear and tear in such a material.
Benefit and Impact of Solved Problem

As mentioned before, replacing organic brake pad with metallic material have both
advantages and impacts. The reason why metallic is used instead of organic material is it is more
durable. It provides good performance and a good heat conductor so heat generated from friction
with brake rotors could be transferred. However, the drawback of this material is that is heavy
which could affect the fuel economy. Due to extra weight also, the car performance is reduced
too. Being made of metal may be has a good strength but at the same too much strength can
cause more wear on the brake rotor. Finally, metallic brake pads work best when they're warm.
When a vehicle with metallic brake pads first gets going on a very cold day, stops may take
slightly longer than usual until the brake pads heat up. For most drivers, the positives of metallic
brake pads outweigh the negatives, especially since metallic brake pads are good for stopping
heavy vehicles like trucks. However, to produce a better brake pad, TRIZ tools of 40 incentives
and 39 parameters would use. The summary of benefits and impacts of replacing organic
material with metallic and the linked 39 Parameters is as below.
Improvement

Related

Impacts

Related

Improvement

Improvement

Feature in 39

Feature in 39
Heavy that cause increased

Parameter
1.Weight of

stand longer than organic

fuel consumption and

stationary object(2)

material

reduced performance.

1.High duration which

Parameter
1.Strength(14)

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2.Good heat transfer for

2.Temperature(17) Inefficient braking during

generated heat due to


friction to brake
3.Good efficiency of

2.Force(10)

cold condition
3.Force (10)

Too high braking force cause 3. Object affected

braking especially during

damage to other parts which harmful factor(30)

warm condition

is brake rotor.

TRIZ Process of Solving

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Problem identification: The usage of organic material in brake pad affect safety to
users.

3rd Problem:
1st Problem: Organic brake pad cannot withstand high temperature due to braking friction that cause
wheel Organic brake pad does not last longer beca
locking.
2nd Problem: Organic brake pad has less gripping force ability due to the material strength.

TRIZ TOOL

39 Parameters

Problem Solving: Using metallic material of brake pad as initial solution for contradiction analysis

Improving feature: Temperature


Improving feature: Force

Impact feature: Force

Improving feature: Strength

Impact feature: Object affected harmful factor


Impact feature: Weight

TRIZ TOOL

40 Inventives

No.40
Inventive Principle: Composite materi
No.3 Inventive Principle: Local
quality
No.40
Inventive Principle: Composite
material

Non-uniform surface of brake pad that has parting surface area instead of one whole surface area
Composite type of brake pad: Metallic mix with organic material instead of metallic only.

Final solution: Brake pad made of metallic mixed with organic material and has parting

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Triz Tools Used and Usage Reason

1. Function Analysis
The first TRIZ tool used is Function Analysis. This tool is used to identify disadvantages of
replacement type of brake pad which is metallic brake pad. Through these any excessive and
insufficient action can be determined. By using function analysis, the brake pad function is
analyzed first. The analysis of metallic brake pad is as below.
General analysis
Component Analysis
Brake pad
Brake rotor
Wheel

Interaction Analysis
Stop
Stop
Stop

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Function Model
Brake rotor
Wheel
Vehicle

Too high braking force


Too low braking force
Effecient braking

Brake rotor

Brake Pad

Lock wheel
Not able to stop
Instantly stop

Vehicle slipping
Vehicle not stopping on time
Vehicle stop on time

Wheel

Vehicle
Wheel locked

Wheel slowly decreasing its motion


Wheel stop on time

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Specific analysis for metallic brake pad


Component
Brake pad

Condition
Types of action
Long period ofHarmful action

Effect
Damaging

working
Normal

Adequate useful action

rotor
Stopping vehicle

High

Inadequate useful action (excessive)

Wheel locking

Temperature
Cold

Inadequate useful action ( insufficient)

Ineffecient braking

temperature

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brake

2. 39 Parameter and 40 Inventive Principles of Problem Solving


The used TRIZ tool for solving this brake pad problem is 40 Inventive Principles of
Problem Solving. The reason of using this tool is because this tool is most suitable tools for
solving technical problem compared to others tools. It means that all technical aspects are found
in this tool through the 39 parameters and 40 principles. This tool also has the functionality for
achieving the objective of this new brake pad innovation. It is because the list of solutions in it is
connected to many general contradictions which lead to the root cause of many problems. As
example, in this brake pad problem, the root cause of various problems is the composition of
material itself that influence the mechanical, physical and chemical property of the brake pad.
Meanwhile, the minor cause of problem is the design of brake pad.
In solving this brake pad problem, there are three types of principle used that lead to new
innovation of brake pad design. One of the used principles is inventive principle no.40. Firstly,
by using metallic material of brake pad, the strength of brake pad certainly improved. This is
because of the strong characteristic of metallic itself. Therefore, it can last longer than organic
material. However, due to the strength it the weight of the brake pad is increased which is an
impact to the vehicle. This because an increase in weight can loss of performance in car.
Moreover, the increased weight also can cause increased fuel consumption on the vehicle.
Therefore, the inventive principle no.40 is used. By following through the process
determining impact improvement solution through TRIZ matrix, the best solution found is
inventive principle no.40 which means the change of composite material. Therefore, by referring
this principle, we overcome this problem by combining the material of organic and metallic.
Through this the excessive impact of strength provided by metallic can be reduced. Talking about
composite material, there is various amount of percentage can be used. The used combination is
mixing not more than 30% of copper for metallic while for organic material, graphite, glass and
rubber are used for other 70%. The amount of copper is 30% because this amount is the best
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amount for heat transfer improvement while limiting the noise problem. If amount of metallic
used to higher than 30%, then the noise problem would arise. Meanwhile, the percentage of
organic is 70% because by having mostly of organic material in composition, the weight problem
can be prevented as organic material weight is one third of the metallic material on the same
amount of volume. Graphite is used to helps in tightly bonding for all components. Glass is used
because it is the best in duration compared to all others organic material. Lastly, rubber is used
because it is a good friction-enhancing material. Therefore, the design is made based on mixture
of copper, graphite, rubber and glass which composition of 30% metallic and 70 organic in
general.
Secondly, using metallic material for brake pad can improve the force of friction for the
brake pad. Therefore, better gripping of force can be obtained through this type of material. For
example when car is in condition that required to make a sudden stop, a good gripping force of
brake pad capable to make the car stop instantly. However, same as before the improvising
comes with a drawback which is damaging other parts of braking system. The affected part is the
brake rotor. This is due to excessively high force of friction of the material. The consequence of
damaged brake rotor is it could cause uneven surface on brake pad back. This drawback is
categorized as object affected harmful factor in the TRIZ matrix. By follow through
By following through the process determining impact improvement solution through
TRIZ matrix, the best solution found is the inventive principle no.40, making change to
composite material. This solution is used because it is a same principle as previous impact
problem so two impacts can be overcome at once, avoiding complexity. Therefore, a mixed
material is used because it has good force of friction that can provide an excellent braking
without damaging other parts.
Lastly, due to organic material cannot withstand high temperature caused by braking
force, we need to change the temperature which is before this are below 100 and over 100
Celsius. So that, we want to fix a temperature that is 150 Celsius. The old temperature of organic
material that is 100 Celsius not suitable because the wear is very high and its less gripping. For
temperature over 100 Celsius its very good but its not efficiencies at cold weather and its makes
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brake locking and also affected to other components that is rotor parts. The temperature we fixed
is 150 Celsius because it not damaging the rotor problem. Like before, impact comes with
improvement as a drawback. The impact from change the temperature is force. A force will be
the impact feature when changing the temperature because a brake pad is related to force. The
benefit of improving feature, temperature is the frequency of brake locking will be occurs less
than before because a temperature is at 150 Celsius. However, the consequence of the impact
feature is the gripping force will be inefficient at cool weather because as temperature goes lower
than 150 Celsius, the brake gripping force would be reduced.
Therefore, by using TRIZ Inventive Principle Solving Technique, the mentioned problem
can be overcome by using the inventive principle no.3 which is local qualities. Through local
qualities principle, the solution taken is to change the surface area of the brake pad. This is
because the surface area influences the movement of heat of a material. As example, when cool
weather the surface area would loss less heat from a smallest surface area compare to larger
surface area of some composition and thickness. This is because each particle on the surface of
object is involves in heat conduction process. So an object with less surface area has less
particles available for heat loss as such a rate of heat transfer it directly proportional to a surface
area through which a heat is conducted. So, a surface with parting areas would be used instead of
the uniform surface of brake pad. This is how the problem is solving by changing uniform
characteristic into non-uniform characteristic.

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3. Function Analysis

Lastly, in order to make sure that the objective of the new design is achievable, the function
analysis is done once more. The analysis is as below.
Component
Brake pad

Condition
Long period
working
Normal

Types of action
ofAdequate useful action
Adequate useful action

Effect
Braking without damaging
brake rotor.
Stopping vehicle.

High Temperature Adequate useful action

Braking without wheel locking.

Cold temperature

Braking efficiently.

Adequate useful action

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CONCLUSION

As conclusion, problem in reality can be practically solved using TRIZ problem solving
technique. TRIZ technique use the process of abstraction as it main way to solve problem. This
means that we need to use TRIZ to determine problem, improving feature, and impact feature
and lastly, come up with a solution for the related problem. There are many type of TRIZ process
that available for solving problem. However, for this brake pad problem, the function analysis
tool, the 39 parameters and 40 inventive principles is used. Through this process, the main
disadvantages of brake pads are determined which are not last longer, medium force of friction
for good braking and not environmentally friendly. Then, the initial solution is recognized based
on the present solution that already exist. The initial solution is metallic brake pad. An analysis
for the improving feature and impacting feature of the initial solution is required after that in
order to produce the final solution that has improving feature without sacrificing the other
feature. Having improving and impacting feature, a number of solutions can determined and
through this the final solution can achieved. In this problem solving, the last solution is to use
composite material and changing the structure of object. So, it can be concluded that TRIZ
problem solving can be used to problem better and efficiently.

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REFERENCES
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http://www.triz-journal.com/triz-what-is-triz/
http://www.triz-journal.com/a-triz-based-design-tool-for-resolving-contradictions/
http://www.innovation-triz.com/triz/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIZ

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