TITLE:
Assessment of Asbestos Exposure Associated with a Brake Grinder
AUTHORS:
Charles L. Blake, Kevin M. Guth, Raymond D. Harbison
KEYWORDS:
Asbestos Exposure, Brakes, Arc Grinder, Friction Materials
JOURNAL NAME:
Occupational Diseases and Environmental Medicine,
Vol.11 No.3,
June
30,
2023
ABSTRACT: The wear patterns for drum-style automotive brakes tend to enlarge internal drum diameters. Such enlargement is most profound when used brake drums are machined to restore the metal friction surfaces. Specialized arc grinding machinery has been used to match replacement shoe-style brake friction materials to enlarged drums. The process of arc grinding removes friction material, thereby producing dust. When organic-style friction materials contained asbestos, use of arc grinding machinery posed an asbestos fiber exposure risk to operators and proximate personnel. The manufacturers of arc grinding machinery have incorporated local exhaust ventilation systems designed to capture and remove this dust at the point of grinding contact and propel this dust into collection bags or other systems. This research was designed to evaluate the dust capture and retention characteristics of a specific arc grinder product, when used to custom grind asbestos-containing brake friction materials. A Bear Model 1420 automotive brake shoe arc grinder was the subject of this study. During two separate but consecutive test sessions, newly relined sets of shoe-style automobile brake friction materials were precision ground. Both area and personal air samples were collected throughout each testing session. This work took place within a closed and unventilated metal building, with total interior volume of 2500 m3. Collected air samples were analyzed using phase contrast microscopy (PCM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results of analysis using PCM for personal samples (n = 6) ranged from