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FILE NAME: Allied Signal Bendix (ASB) DATE: 0000 DOC#: ASB060 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Published Article - Dust on Their Hands , Dust on their hands By DENNY CRANDALL The search is on. Fame and fortune await the Bendix employee or anyone else who can discover a way to use the 15 tons of brake lining dust generated every day at Friction Materials Division, Troy, N. Y. The dust is a waste product resulting from the manufac ture of brake linings at the Troy facility. It's the residue from a grinding operation. And additional tons of it are being created every day at the division's Cleveland Plant, Cleveland, Tenn. So Friction Materials is very serious about finding a profitable way to turn dust into dollars. Some being sold Actually, a small amount of the dust is already being sold, according to Harry L. Deas, sales manager/chemical products. A company that makes sports equipment has discovered that brake Lining dust makes an excellent filler in molding the inner core of bowling balls. But the total quantity required for all of the bowling balls in the world is only a mole hill compared to the mountain of dust that's available. Most of the mountain is simply trucked to the dump. Disposing of all that dust, quite frankly, is getting to be a problem, says Deas. Due to its high asbestos content. the dust is fibrous in nature and has a tendency~to bulK up. It has to be wet down to keep it from blowing around in the air. ' Another problem Furthermore, says Deas, dumping ground for waste ma terial of any kind will be increasingly more difficult to find in the space-squeezed '70s. And he can foresee a time not so far off when it may become necessary to build a compacting plant that will serve no purpose other than to press the dust into blocks for more efficient disposal. That would be costly. The better way would be to find a means of converting this waste product into a by-product. And management personnel in Troy believe there's a profit potential to be mined from the plant's mountain of dust. A number of possibilities are being explored in the search to find a market for brake lining dust. One of these possibilities is its use as a filler in asphalt products for undercoating car bodies. Other possibilities Clifford H. Morton, manager of new products develop ment at the division, believes the brake lining dust might be used in the manufacture of a good, inexpensive sign board or exterior building panel. It wouldn't be good for THERE M UST BE A W A Y -- Flicking imaginary dust a Friction Materials Division brake lining are empl Margaret Bowman (left) and Kathleen Stellato. The sion itself is thinking of cleaning up by finding a p able use for the 15 tons of dust it generates daily i process of manufacturing brake linings.. interior use, because the stuff smells when it's exi to a warm atmosphere. Asbestos fibers make a good reinforcing agent, another possible use for the dust might be in the i facturing of floor tile. There are all kinds of possibilities. The problem k of a specification. , Different types of brake lining are produced in Tro; the mix of asbestos, resin and fillers varies from on to the next. The asbestos content is higher in some of brake lining, depending on the end use, am division is unable to guarantee a specification, ex' Deas. So the search continues. What is needed is a high vc non-specification market that will turn dust into d Ideas, anyone? ___________ APRIL 14, 197