INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING A BITS DISSERTATION

(An Informal guide to BITS Dissertation writing)

BITS ZG629T(Off- Campus)

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE

PILANI, RAJASTHAN, 333031

(MAY 2002)
 An Informal Guide to

All Students of BITS, who are doing their Higher Degree

Dissertation Projects in the current semester

Dissert at ion Proj ect s in t his sem est er culm inat e in t o a very im port ant and final st age of your
educat ional process of BI TS. This leads t o subm ission of a professional report of a high qualit y st andard,
as required of t he BI TS Dissert at ion. A Dissert at ion report is of a higher st andard in it ’s approach, wider in
scope and deeper in t he levels of underst anding t han t hat of a Thesis report . As a BI TS st u de n t ,
you should take pride in the Dissertation report as well as your work.

You should t ake t im e t o read t his not ice carefully t o avoid u n n e ce ssa r y w a st a ge of your hard
time and t hat of t he peer reviewers in cor r e spon de n ce . Here are som e of t he suggest ions t o reduce
this, and also prevent Dissertation report revision. Take a Look at the following sections:

Why all this?

Follow only BITS Standard Format for the Title Pages of Dissertation(S1)
Next page that follows is the certificate. (S2)
Abstract Page (S3)
Expression of gratitude (Acknowledgement), Dedications (S4)
List of symbols, List of Figures & List of Tables (S5)
Index / Table of Contents (S6)
Chapters and their arrangement (Introduction S7)
Results & discussion
Conclusion (Page /Chapter) S8
Appendices (S9)
References(S10,S11)
Communications after you submit the Dissertation
Self evaluation or checklist before you send the Dissertation

Some tips, dos and don'ts

Why all this?

We have com e t o not ice t he revisions have been necessit at ed even t hree t im es aft er subm ission
by t he due dat e and even in som e cases re- regist rat ion int o next sem est er. The resubm ission cases
account for about 30% of t he t ot al num ber of t heses subm it t ed in t he current sem est er. This you can
definitely reduce / avoid by carefully going through following instructions contained in this booklet.

The Dissert at ion will furt her go t hrough a peer review com m it t ee t o go t hrough your report in
order to oversee the following:

a) Compliance of a BITS standard Dissertation format,

b) Overall im pact and cont ribut ion m ade by t he Dissert at ion t o t he subj ect / present day knowledge,
efforts put in by you to collect data/experiments
c) Technical discussions put forward by him / or program m ing exercise done/ experim ent s done in
order to achieve the desired set of goals put forward by him/her
d) How he/she was able to keep to the schedules and evaluation reports.

How the Dissertation should be submitted?

THE DISSERTATION SHOULD BE SUBMITTED IN A NEATLY TYPED AND
BOUND VOLUME ONLY AND IT SHOULD BE COMPLETE IN ALL RESPECTS.
Any other form is liable to be rejected / ignored even without notice to
you.
 Taking int o account all t hese param et ers, it is likely t hat you r fin a l gr a de is lia ble
to be revised if the Dissertation falls short of any of the guidelines.

Follow only BITS Standard Format for the Title Pages of

Dissertation.

Please do n ot have you r ow n de sign s of t h e t it le a n d in n e r cove r pa ge s. Ot herwise it is not

possible t o dist inguish bet ween a report and t he Dissert at ion. Please do not cover t hem by a n y ot h e r
blank/ filled pages. See t hat t he t it le of t h e pr oj e ct gives an idea of t he proj ect covered by your
Dissertation and it should be consistently be same as approved by your mentor / BITS.

See the sample as per the format (S- 1).

Next page that follows is the certificate.

Cert ificat e form at is t o be followed. See t hat t he t it le of t he proj ect is sam e as given in t he t it le
page ( s) . I f not , your Dissert at ion has n o cor r e la t ion w it h t h e ce r t ifica t e and m akes bot h t he
cert ificat e and you r D isse r t a t ion in va lid. ( Avoid m aking Cert ain silly m ist akes --you r n a m e m isspe ll,
wrong I D n u m be r , n a m e of su pe r visor or m e n t or , N a m e of t h e or ga n iza t ion m isspe ll,
Organization stamp giving the incomplete address.) See the sample as per the format. (S- 2)

Abstract Page

Next is the abstract page. It gives a brief account of the work done by you at your organization in
connect ion wit h t he proj ect t aken up by you. Please bind a copy of it in your Dissert at ion. Also a t t a ch
t w o se pa r a t e copie s for ou r r e fe r e n ce t o m a k e a com pila t ion of a ll t h e t h e se s in t h e se m e st e r .
They can be accessed in BITS library. See the sample as per the format. (S- 3)

Acknowledgement, Dedications

You m ay like t o record t he assist ance / help offered by people associat ed wit h you in m aking t he
report . There is no specific form at for t his. You m ay form at it on your own. No grade or evaluat ion
component is associated with this page. See the sample as per the format. (S- 4)

List of symbols, List of Figures & List of Tables

You m ay want t o develop t he subj ect using m at hem at ical/ st at ist ical/ chem ical/ or any ot her
st andard not at ions used in t he scient ific lit erat ure. The list cont aining t he sym bols and t heir m eaning
should be given in the list of symbols.

You m ay want t o include illust rat ions, phot ographs, flow chart s and ot her st at ist ical chart s.
Carefully Make a list of all t hose figures in a proper order and give consecut ive num ber. You have t o m ake
a reference t o t he figure in t he t ext of t he chapt ers. The list should have cont inuous num bering
irrespective of the chapters where they appear and the page number. Please make it a point that no figure
goes un- referred in your Dissertation.

You m ay want t o include Experim ent al dat a, collect ed dat a, calculat ed values and ot her form s of
dat a in t he form of t ables. Carefully m ake a list of all t hose t ables in a proper order and give consecut ive
num ber. You have t o m ake a reference t o t he t able in t he t ext of t he chapt ers. The list should have
continuous num bering irrespect ive of t he chapt ers where t hey appear and t he page num ber. Please m ake
it a point t hat no Table goes un- referred in your Dissert at ion and also wit hout any explanat ory not e/
comments/observations/conclusive remarks. See the samples as per the format. (S- 5)

Index / Table of Contents

Most of the students default here. The list of chapters should be arranged in their natural order of
developm ent of your proj ect or how you want t o develop t he subj ect . The chapt ers should be arranged in
a sequence. Each page of t he Dissert at ion is t o be num bered. Give t he st art ing page num ber of each
chapter in the chapter list. See the sample as per the format. (S- 6)

Chapters and their arrangement

M ost of t h e st u de n t s do n ot se e m t o t a k e ca r e t h is a spe ct pr ope r ly. Logically you k n ow

t h e su bj e ct and what you are expect ed t o do in t he sem est er and how you want t o present in a best
possible way is in your hands. Hence an equally logical proposit ion should be t hat t he chapt ers should be
in the following order.

Introduction ( your com pany, explain why t he subj ect is im port ant , what your com pany is
looking forward, How beneficial it is etc) See the samples as per the format. (S- 7)
The Lit e r a t u r e su r ve y / t h e Ba ck gr ou n d of t h e pr oble m ( Lit e r a t u r e su r ve y: How t he issue
has been t ackled in t he earlier report s, m et hods of t heir analysis, your approach how different or
how alike, Met hodologies adopt ed) ( Background: how t he problem arose in t he com pany, is t he
problem special of your com pany alone, is it a t ot ally a new developm ent , how a sim ilar problem
in the past has been solved? Etc.,).
Chapters cont aining experim ent s done, descript ion of set up, Design m et hods adopt ed, How dat a
has been collect ed, observat ions m ade, m arket survey analysis et c., com put er soft ware used, it s
features etc., (It is left to the student how many chapters should be there)
Chapter should be separat ely m ade for t he discussion of t he result s obt ained. This chapt er
indicat es t o a reader how t he result s are int erpret ed, conclusions drawn at different levels of
progress of work.
Chapter should be separat ely m ade for t he conclusions based on t he result s obt ained. This
chapt er indicat es t o a reader net all- round conclusions drawn, suggest ions for im provem ent s,
lim it at ions/ applicabilit y of t he work in sit uat ions, if it is a soft ware t hen how it is efficient and in
which situation it applicable etc.
Format the pages properly.

How t he Pages are t o be present ed? There is no specific Form at for t his. I t depends upon an
est ablished and t im e t est ed pract ice which has been followed in m any universit ies and
Technological Institutes. For example:
1 Running text- font 10/12,
2 Para heading/Table heading 14/16 bold,
3 Sub- Para heading 10/12 bold,
4 Number of lines per page not less than 45/46 depending upon your matter,
5 Do not format ridiculously low at 5 lines /page without any other table / figure.
There must be a purpose in doing so.

See the samples as per the format. (S- 7)

Results & discussion

Have a chapt er on t he result s obt ained in t he observat ions and calculat ions or program m e
out put s. Show what has been t he input and what is t he out put of your st udies. Discuss t he agreem ent /
variat ion, Why t hey have occurred, are t here any sim ilar sit uat ions in t he past t o correlat e your result s,
any new development or new finding in the pattern of your results etc.,

Conclusion (Page /Chapter)

 I t is sim ilar t o t he result s and discussion. High- light im port ant rem arks concerning t he
result s and t he int erpret at ions --How it has benefit ed t he com pany, how t he result s m ade a difference t o
previous situations, etc., See the samples as per the format. (S- 8)

Appendices

This is a part of the Dissertation where you provide material for additional information on the
subj ect . For exam ple say you referred a com pany cat alogue of equipm ent specificat ion, or a BI S or BS
st andard, you m ay provide pert inent inform at ion. Or you want t he list ing of a com put er program m e you
developed for t he purpose. This can be included in t his sect ion. You m ay give num ber for each appended
inform at ion in Appendix I , Appendix I I et c., Please do not forget t o num ber t hese pages t oo. See t he
samples as per the format. (S- 9)

References

This is an important part of the Dissertation helping you and the reviewer as to see how deep
you went int o subj ect m at t er, how t o get a sim ilar or cont em porary report can be referred, how t o
compare your results with other research workers in this area etc.,

It is a code many refereed journals follow.

I t is a good pract ice t o follow an order, which is according t o alphabet ical order of t he
authors. This is the best among all.

I t is a lso possible t h a t you pu blish t h e su bj e ct of t h e D isse r t a t ion in n a t ion a l /

in t e r n a t ion a l j ou r n a ls. The list of references t hus help you educat e yourself and also let ot hers t o know
where to search and what to search more precisely and quickly. See the samples as per the format. (S10,
S11). The sam ple page gives a m et hod how t o writ e t he reference in serial order according alphabet ical
list

COMMUNICATIONS AFTER YOU SUBMIT THE DISSERTATION:

A r e vie w com m it t e e w ill e va lu a t e you r D isse r t a t ion . Th e D isse r t a t ion is r e vie w e d in or de r t h a t

t h e gu ide lin e s pr ovide d t o you a r e st r ict ly com plie d. An y de via t ion w ill be n ot ifie d t o you for
correction. Cases of Dissertation rejection will arise if:

1. A student indulges in malpractices,

2. A D isse r t a t ion is h a vin g a m a t t e r ide n t ica l / or sim ila r t o t h a t of a n ot h e r st u de n t ( w h o
is cu r r e n t ly on r olls or w h o h a s a lr e a dy com ple t e d or a st u de n t of t h e sa m e
organization, or any ex- student of BITS),
3. A Dissertation is a mere copy of text books/ manuals / a report
4. The subject matter is too trivial to make it a subject of the Dissertation. (For example if
t h e com m it t e e fe e ls t h a t w or k is n ot su bst a n t ia l, t h e w or k is n ot e n ou gh t o cove r a
period of one full semester).
5. A Dissertation topic is too general that a student cannot make a reasonable contribution
within the semester.
6. A mere compilation of some company reports/ accessible to him and no substantial
effort is made by him to discuss, observe, and submit a scholarly work.
7. The student could not be contacted with all the possible means of communications as
provided by the addresses given by him.
8. Mentor and examiner are not properly qualified.
9. Registration invalid for the current semester.

Please not e t hat all t he com m unicat ions will be sent t o t he la st k n ow n e m a il a ddr e ss a n d post a l
a ddr e ss give n by you in you r e va lu a t ion for m s. Dissert at ion revision advises will be sent t o t hese
addresses only. Hence it is all t he m ore im port ant t hat you should inform us your lat est address ( em ail
/ Post al / Telephone / and Fax) in order t o help us ( t o help you) . BI TS, Pilani will not be responsible for t he
loss of m ail/ m ail not being delivered/ delayed m ail in any form . However we will t ake all t he st eps t o
cont act you in case any need arises based on t hese address inform at ion pr ovide d by you in t h e
evaluation forms.
Also r e m e m be r t h a t you r pr ovision a l de gr e e ce r t ifica t e s/ de gr e e ce r t ifica t e s w ill be se n t t o
these addresses only.

Grade your own Dissertation (Self evaluation) before you submit: Use it as
a checklist

Check list\ grade Excellent Poor/un- acceptable

Front cover page BITS Format Company format
Inner cover page BITS Format Company format
Certificate BITS Format Company format
Acknowledgement NA NA
Abstract BITS Format No signatures
BITS Format
Index or Table of contents No page numbers
All page nos given
List of symbol/notations BITS Format No list /numbers given
List of figures/photos BITS Format No list/numbers given
List of Tables BITS Format No tables/numbers given
Chapter 1 (introduction) BITS Format No introduction/abrupt beginning
Chapter 2 --- etc BITS Format No chapters/freestyle
Chapter x Discussion BITS Format No discussion chapter
Chapter x+1 Conclusions BITS Format No conclusion
References BITS Format Title of book only
Appendices 1,2,3 etc BITS Format Every thing jumbled in main Dissertation

WHAT A DISSERTATION IS NOT?

Please remember that a Dissertation is not any of the following:
A compilation of Power Point Presentations of a seminar
A text book or a Manual
A Day’s report, nor a report of what you are doing in the organization
Company’s Marketing report or
Company’s Quality Control records
A compilation of Company’s drawings
A set of compilation of quotations for a contract
WHAT A DISSERTATION IS?
It is record of student’s scholarly work during the semester on a specific goal oriented project.
It could be a software oriented project in order to increase the efficiency and speedy recovery
of information in your organization
It could be a design report of a mould / equipment/ special tooling required in the specific unit
where the student is working with employer’s permission
It could be the study of an implementation policy to achieve cost reduction / zero defects /
improvements in employee performance (eg TPM in moulding shop, Quality circles and group
efforts)
It could be a detailed analysis of performance of a Machine, tooling, breakdown, how to
minimize by substitution of new materials, cost effectiveness
It could be a report of an installation and commissioning of an equipment / software / results
achieved, How the entire action has been planned, what are the specific situations involved
particular to the site of installation, customer specifications vis- à - vis the specifications of
equipment installed, lead times involved cost benefits accrued to the customer etc.,
 Some tips, dos and don'ts
1. A D isse r t a t ion is n ot a com pila t ion of Pow e r Poin t Pr e se n t a t ion s. Ple a se be a r it in m in d t h a t
t h e y w ill n ot be a cce pt e d e ve n w it h ou t a n y n ot ice t o you . Th e y ca n r u n t h e RI SK OF BEI N G
IGNORED. Th e y m a y be im pr e ssive for a se m in a r , bu t n ot for a D isse r t a t ion . Th e y a lso
con t r ibu t e t o w a st in g pa pe r w it h la r ge n u m be r of pa ge s w it h lit t le in for m a t ion h ow t h e
subject has been chosen, how analyzed, how experiments were conducted, etc.,
2. Ple a se r e m e m be r t h a t you a r e n ot w r it in g a Te x t book or a M a n u a l. Ple a se con fin e t o you r
su bj e ct . Ch oose t h e su bj e ct of you r D isse r t a t ion spe cific t o you r a ssign m e n t . Usu a lly it
sh ou ld be t h e w or k ca r r ie d ou t a t you r or ga n iz a t ion / or a t ot h e r pla ce on be h a lf of you r
parent company.
3. D o h a ve a com pr e h e n sive pla n for you r D isse r t a t ion . I t is n ot a da y's r e por t . W r it e e a ch
chapter
and review entirely and examine the continuity of subject to the next chapter and a logical
conclusion
4. D o n ot r e pr odu ce t h e pa ge s of a t e x t book . A r e fe r e n ce n u m be r sh ou ld be in dica t e d if it ca lls
for t h e discu ssion . Sim ply pu t , D o n ot follow a be a t e n t r a ck w h ich is a lr e a dy a va ila ble in
standard literature and textbooks
5. Com pa r ison of you r da t a w it h ot h e r pr e viou s r e cor ds ( in a sim ila r sit u a t ion or in con t r a st ) is
encouraged.
6. D o n ot ge n e r a liz e you r D isse r t a t ion t it le ( For e x a m ple do n ot ch oose t it le s lik e Tot a l Qu a lit y
M a n a ge m e n t , Six Sigm a , Ope r a t ion a l m e t h ods, Fin it e Ele m e n t a n a lysis, En vir on m e n t a l
pollu t ion , or ca t ch y Bu t u n - u n de r st a n da ble t it le s lik e ...KKL- SIP- ESFD- M ACRO e ve n if it is
justified and meaningful from your angle.)
7. I n st e a d For e x a m ple you m a y ch oose t it le s lik e : Pa in t - sh op qu a lit y m a n a ge m e n t in FORD
I n dia / Fin it e Ele m e n t analysis of a le a f spr in g, D e ve lopm e n t of an in ve n t or y
management software based on MS Access etc.
8. D o n ot sim ply a t t a ch t a ble s t o in cr e a se t h e bu lk of you r D isse r t a t ion . Ea ch t a ble h a s t o be
discu sse d t h or ou gh ly a n d in t e r pr e t e d. N e it h e r e x a m in e r / n or a r e vie w e r a r e goin g t o do it .
I t is you r w or k a n d you h a ve t o e x pla in in de t a il. M a n y st u de n t s a t t a ch a va st n u m be r of da t a
obt a in e d fr om t h e ir com pa n y a n d t h a t w it h ou t a n y r e fe r e n ce t o it in t h e discu ssion in t h e
cor r e spon din g ch a pt e r s. Th is m a y a dd im pr e ssive bu lk of t h e D isse r t a t ion bu t of n o va lu e .
Ple a se do n ot m isu n de r st a n d t h a t t a ble / da t a a r e u n n e ce ssa r y. Th e y a r e e sse ntial. Provide a
basis and means to understand what you are trying to convey through the tables.

T h e f o l l o w i n g p a g e s S1 t o S1 1 c o n t a i n s a m p l e s o f s o m e Di s s e r t a t i o n p a g e s f o r
g u i d a n c e a n d f o r i l l u s t r a t i o n o n l y . T h e T i t l e s o f a Di s s e r t a t i o n , n a m e s o f p e r s o n s
indic at ed are all fic t it ious and m ay be t hat t he c oinc idenc e of t heir nam es in an
o r g a n i za t i o n i s o n l y i n c i d e n t a l a n d i t i s n o t a i m e d a t a n y i n d i v i d u a l /o r g a n i s a t i o n i n
making the references.

S1
QC PROBLEM SOLUTION IN
 CLUTCH FACINGS & BRAKELININGS
BITS ZG629T: Dissertation

By

V.Sivakumar
(1999 HZ79507)

Work Carried at
FORD INDIA LIMITED, CHENNAI

Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of

M.S. (Manufacturing Management )

Under the Supervision of

Dr. B.Ramanathan
STA Engineer, Ford India Ltd
Chegalpattu

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE

PILANI, RAJASTHAN-333031
MAY 2000

(This format should be used for outer and inner cover pages)

S2

BIRLA INSTITUE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, PILANI

 S3

ABSTRACT
Dissertation Title : QC PROBLEM SOLUTION IN CLUTCH FACINGS & BRAKELININGS.

Supervisor : Dr B Ramanathan

Name of student : V.Sivakumar

Semester : Second

ID No. : 1999 HZ79507

This Dissertation work gives an account of the Quality control aspects of

the friction materials that are useful for applications in clutch facing and brake
linings

Sample analyses, Experiments were done in the moulding department.

Defects were analyzed and ranked according to their priorities such as under fill,
cracks, warpage, damage and others. Reasons or causes were found out by
drawing fish bone diagram. Major steps in the moulding process were verified.
Experiments were done to observe the process variables. The process variables
having significant changes i.e. temperature of curing and length of curing time
Moulding pressure, holding time on the hardness and state of complete cure
(measuring unreacted species by acetone extraction test).

Improved the conditions of moulding frozen the process parameters –

such as the Moulding pressure, Temperature, pressure-holding time, number of
vents. They have been standardized. This strategy has reduced the defects to an
extent of 40 %. Further reduction strategy to reduce the defects has been
planned.

The Dissertation describes the above work in detail.

Signature of Student Signature of the supervisor

Akhilesh Kumar Shandilya Dr B Ramanathan.

STA Engineer, Ford India Ltd
Date:08/05/2000 Chengalpattu

(The abstract should be submitted in triplicate. One should be bound with the Dissertation
and the other two should be enclosed with the evaluation report)

S4
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep

regards to my guide for his
exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the
course of this Dissertation work. The blessing, help and guidance given by them
time to time shall carry me a long way in journey of life on which I am about to
embark.

Sincere appreciation is extended to Shri I.V.Singh and Shri N.N.Sharma

Ford India Ltd for his immense help during the course of this work. In those
moment when things used to turn dark his presence had a soothing effect.

I am grateful to Shri Durai prabhakaran Lecturer- mechanical Engineering

Department, Anna University, for providing me with the timely help in search of
the references for this Dissertation.

I record with appreciation the help rendered by Shri Tulsiram Sharma,

Robotics Lab instructor, for this work.

My several well-wishers helped me directly or indirectly; I virtually fall short

of words to express my gratefulness to them. Therefore I am leaving this
acknowledgement incomplete……….in their reminiscence.

V.Sivakumar

S5
LIST OF SYMBOLS & ABBREVIATIONS USED
A: cross sectional area of beam
b: width of beam
C: damping coefficient
D: electric displacement
d: depth of beam
dij: piezoelectric moduli
E: modulus of elasticity
f: force
G: modulus of rigidity
H(x): heaviside step function
h: half of depth
I: moment of inertia
K: stiffness matrix
L: length of beam
l: one element length
m: moment
n: unit vector
q(t): time dependence of the load
Rf: resistance
t: thickness of PZT
u: displacement or deflection in beam
V: voltage applied on PZT
An: coefficient of model series
: derivative for step function
: strain
a: strain in PZT actuator
p: piezoelectric strain
: slope
n: eigenvalue
: damping ratio
: density
: tensile strength
n(x): modes
n: natural frequency
w(x): transverse displacement
d: damping frenquency

S6
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ch No. Title Page No

i) Certificate i
ii) Abstract ii
iii) Acknowledgements iii
iv) List of symbols iv
v) List of Figures v
vi) List of Tables vi

1. Introduction 1
1.1. The problems encountered in FORD India 1
1.2. Introduction Brakes & Clutches 4
1.3. Introduction to Friction (LINING) materials 7
1.4. Strategies for QC 9
2. Background to the problem 12
3. Classification of defects in clutches and brake-linings
and their influence on performance 14
4. Understanding the defects, Cause and effect diagram 22
4.1 various defects 22
4.2 trends in the monthly production statistics 23
4.3 Ranking of defects
4.4 Inspection strategy 25
4.5 Process parameters 27
5 Experimental Work, Data collection and analysis 38
6 Discussion 42
7 Conclusion 45
8 Appendices 46 - 76
9 References 77

S7
 CHAPTER 1
Introduction
In all the transportation (or automobile) vehicles, the clutch and brake
systems are very important and critical components. The results can be
disastrous if the clutch or brake systems fail.

A brake system consists of a braking mechanism, and its actuating system

connected to foot/ brake pedal (through a slack adjuster) near the driver’s seat.
The braking mechanism consists of a brake drum, brake pads / brake shoes, a
‘S’cam , and an air brake chamber to actuate the ‘S’cam. The ‘S’ cam pushes the
brake pads such that the brake shoes press against the drum to bring the vehicle
to the state of rest.

The clutch is a form of mechanical coupling which enables the

transmission of power between the driver and driven shafts aligned along the
same axis while former shaft is continuously rotating and the other is in a state of
rest or rotating at a lower speeds. Usually clutch is actuated to bring about a
change of the speed in the driven shaft.

The Brake pads / clutch facings have one thing in common. That is the
friction material which provides frictional surface to provide enough frictional
force required to transmit the power either to brake the vehicle (former )or to
accelerate the vehicle as clutch.

The brake pads /Clutch facings are made of friction material to provide a
positive power transmission and the material should withstand sufficient wear
and tear due to forces of friction. The Brake pads or clutch are moulded using a
specially formulated phenolic moulding compound to provide a very high
coefficient of friction. Usually these materials are used in the light duty vehicles
while woven materials are used in moulding heavy-duty facings or pads.

Woven materials provide high strength and stiffness which are present in
heavy duty vehicles. Phenolic resin is appropriately selected depending upon the
requirements of moulding conditions and product demands. Phenolic resins are
very versatile thermosetting resin systems for high temperature service
conditions such as braking systems or clutch systems.

Since the resin is a thermosetting one, its cure (further information

provided in Appendix I) has to be accomplished only at elevated temperature and
pressure conditions. This requires a curing pressure and temperature cycle that
is possible in Hydraulic presses which can provide pressures in the range of 50
t0 100 Kg / cm2 and a temperature range of operation around 1500 – 2500 C.

S8
 CHAPTER 7
Conclusions
In this Dissertation an effort is made to understand the functions of friction-
materials and to minimize the manufacturing defects. Experimental work
indicates that the manufacturing defects account about 40% of the defective
parts produced. (From table - 5.1) (almost to an extent of 1/2 ).

Planned experiments point out that optimizing the Compression moulding

process - and its variables can prevent the defects. Studies conducted reveal
that moulding pressure, its holding time, and moulding temperature have the
significant effect to produce defect-free samples. Production has been optimized
to implement the best combination of the process variables to give defect-free or
aiming at 0% defect rates during moulding.

Optimization of other non-process parameters also has to be taken up for

producing ZERO defect products so that rejection can be totally minimized.
 S9
Appendix I
Friction materials- Phenolic moulding compounds

Phenolic resins were the earliest synthetic polymers developed and have useful mechanical and physical
properties. The first commercial development of phenolic resins was by Leo Baekeland in 1907 (Bakelite). They are
formed by the reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. There are two classes of phenolic resins, Novolacs and Resoles.

Novolacs

An acid catalyzed reaction of phenol and formaldehyde in a ratio greater than one results in the formation
of a novolac resin. Novolac resins are typically eight to ten units in size. They are a thermoplastic, thus requiring the
addition of a crosslinking agent to form a three-dimensional rigid polymer network.

Resoles

Reaction of phenol and formaldehyde, in a ratio less than one, under basic conditions, results in the
formation of a resole resin. Resole resins are thermoset polymers, typically one to five units in size.

Polymers in Industrial Compositions

The industrial partners in this project, Comalco Aluminium Ltd., have closely related interests in the
development and behaviour of phenolic resins. Phenolic resins are a component of the composite materials used in the
containment of molten metals in the production of aluminium and steel. The Polymer Science Group is pioneering new
advances in the study of phenolic resins. The chemistry of the crosslinking and carbonization behaviour of these complex
polymer systems is being investigated by various advanced analytical techniques on carefully designed model systems.
The increased use of phenolic resins in industry has meant that composite materials with improved properties are highly
desirable. Work within the Polymer Science Group has examined the effect of the addition of thermally stable polymers,
eg. polyimide systems, to improve the thermo- and chemical resistance, and mechanical properties of the composites.
The underlying aim of this project is to develop an understanding of the relationships between the chemical structure,
chemical reactions in the processing of polymer resins, the processing parameters and the properties of the final
composite products and to apply this knowledge to industrial applications.

Application Feature Grade

Heat Resistance Brake Lining Cream Powder form, Melting

TPF/H/1111
Point=75° - 85°

Compounding of Nitrile Light Brown Powder form,

TCF/B/1131
Rubber Melting Point=75° - 85°

Brake Lining Light Brown Powder form,

TCF/B/1132
Melting Point=75° - 85°

Rice Rollers Light Brown Powder form,

TPF/R/1911
Melting Point=75° - 85°

S10
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