No asbestos brakes 'in five years'
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• All new trucks introduced over the next five years will have asbestos-free brake linings as standard, according to Mintex Don, the BBA group subsidiary.
BBA claims to be Europe's largest friction material manufacturing group.
Bert Smales, Mintex Don's product engineering manager, says: "All leading friction material manufacturers have now stopped development work on material which containes asbestos."' He admits that no new material has yet been found which can completely match the performance characteristics that make asbestos "almost ideal" for brakes. "If asbestos did not have environmental problems we would continue to use it," he says.
Smales was speaking at the recent launch of the Mintex Safebrake, M1385 asbestosfree lining for commercial vehicles above 16 tonnes GVW. A new independent report from the Health and Safety Executive, entitled "Alternatives to Asbestos; a review", is now available, listing asbestos alternatives and describing their use in different applications.
The report includes details of asbestos substitutes used in transport, such as delaminated vermiculite, which is used in braking, and polyester bonded textile laminate which is used in steering column bushes.