This research investigated the role of silica on palm kernel shell (PKS) as friction lining materials in automotive brake pad production. The friction materials were crushed, milled and sieved into four different particle sizes of 100, 150, 200 and 350 µm. The formulations weight percentages employed included Resin (20%), steel slag (15%) and carbon black (5%) while palm kernel shell and silica were varied for each particle size. Individual formulation was mixed for about 10 minutes until formation of homogeneous mixture. Homogeneous formulation A, B, C and D respectively, was compacted into mould and later sintered at 150 oC for 10 minutes in electric furnace and subsequently treated to enhance quality. Produced samples were characterized and evaluated for surface hardness (SH), compressive strength (CS), flame resistance (FR), oil absorption (OA), water absorption (WA) and wear rate (WR). The particles were also characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope. The results revealed that sample D had highest SH and CS values of 105.5 Brinell hardness number (BHN) and 115.2 N/mm2 respectively with decreasing values as particle size increases. FR decreased from samples A to D, and also decreased as particle size increased. Deductively, Sample B with the sieved grade of 100 µm was the best with SH as 99.14 BHN, CS as 105.6 N/mm2, WR as 4.15%, FR as 38.98%, and WA rate as 4.26 % and CF as 0.45 and OA rate as 0.381%. Conclusively, this research developed a high quality eco-friendly PKS particle composite for the production of brake pad.
Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is a tool tailored to support maintenance business functions of production systems. Market available CMMS software programs seldom meet the needs of each organization's peculiar maintenance functions. Therefore, this work investigated the effects of CMMS on a cement production plant. The materials used included a Computer and Networking system and maintenance software. Preliminary study via interview among the relevant maintenance staff members of the plant was conducted to identify critical plant assets. Critical assets considered under this study are Limestone Crusher (LC), Cement Mill (CM) and Kiln (KI) among others identified. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as Plant Reliability Factor (RF), Number of Stoppages for Incidents (NSI) and Production Losses (PL) were used as basis for the evaluation which covered period from year 2013 to 2015. The result obtained from this implementation showed that RF for LC,
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