Friction material

1. A method of forming friction material for a brake pad, the method including the steps of:

extruding basalt through a die to form linear fiber strands;

chopping the linear fiber strands of basalt to form individual strands of chopped basalt fiber;

dry mixing the chopped basalt fiber with one or more of friction additives, fillers and binders to form a friction material mixture; and

forming the mixture into a pad to form a friction element;

wherein the chopped basalt fibers include a length in the range of about 3 to 13 mm and a diameter in the range of about 5 to 25 microns.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the friction element includes about 3% to about 15% by weight of chopped basalt fibers.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

i) the friction element includes about 0.5 to 30% by weight one or more additives, the one or more additives including potassium titanate powder, mullite, alumina, or any combination thereof

ii) the friction element includes about 1 to 15% by weight one or more fillers, the one or more fillers include barium sulfate, wollastonite, or a combination of both.

iii) the friction element includes about 8 to 12% by weight one or more binders;

iv) the chopped basalt fibers include a surface treatment for improving adhesion to another material, the surface treatment having silane.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the friction material includes about 5% to about 12% by weight of chopped basalt fibers.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the chopped basalt fibers are generally linear fiber strands having an operating temperature in the range of about −250° C. to 700° C.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the chopped basalt fibers have a hardness of about 6 Mohs to about 6.5 Mohs.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein basalt rock is heated to the point of melting before the basalt is extruded.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the binders are added as a surface treatment prior to or during mixing of the ingredients forming the friction material.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the binders comprise a phenolic resin.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the friction element includes aramid pulp.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of surface treating the chopped basalt fiber for improving adhesion to another material.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of surface treating comprises silane applied to the basalt fibers before, during, after, or any combinations thereof chopping of the fibers into individual linear strands.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein basalt rock is heated to the point of melting before the basalt is extruded.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the friction element includes antimony sulfide, moly disulfide, tungsten sulfide, or any combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the friction material includes about 5% to about 12% by weight of chopped basalt fibers.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the chopped basalt fibers are generally linear fiber strands having an operating temperature in the range of about −250° C. to 700° C.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the chopped basalt fibers have a hardness of about 6 Mohs to about 6.5 Mohs.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein basalt rock is heated to the point of melting before the basalt is extruded.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the binders are added as a surface treatment prior to or during mixing of the ingredients forming the friction material.

20. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the binders comprise a phenolic resin.