APPLICATION OF FUZZY VIKOR IN AUTOMOTIVE BRAKE PAD MATERIAL

Multi Criteria Decision Making methods is one of the most common methods used to determine the most appropriate material. In the decision making process, there are dissimilarities to elicit, specify and analyse the information on alternatives, criteria and relative significance of the criteria. Fuzzy set has been utilised in Multi Criteria Decision Making methods to optimise the method and created an extended approach to deal with uncertainty and increase the accuracy of decision making. As for many years’ asbestos was viewed as having an optimal performance as a brake pad. However, this material has been banned by the Environmental Protection Agency. Due to the increasing awareness on environmental impact and subsequently the need towards sustainability, selection of the appropriate material for a brake pad that complies with the environment and regulations is vital and natural fibre reinforced composite has potential to replace the asbestos in the automotive brake pad application. Therefore, the objective of this study is to apply the Fuzzy VIKOR to select the best natural fibre reinforced composite for the automotive brake pad to replace the asbestos. Four alternatives of natural fibre reinforced composite with five criteria have been evaluated by three decision maker. The results of the Fuzzy VIKOR shows that the date palm fibre is selected as the best material for the automotive brake pad.