Abstract
An investigation into the effect of preheating the powder particles versus not preheating before mixing it with an aluminium slurry was carried out. This was seen as way of overcoming the challenge of wettability which often occurs when powder particles are added to a melted metal for the purpose of developing a metal matrix composite. In this study, non – preheated, 2 w.% preheated and 4 w.% preheated palm kernel shell ash powder was used to develop an aluminium matrix composite (AMC) via stir casting method. Mechanical properties revealed that AMC with 4 w.% pks ash inclusion has the highest Vickers Hardness value. Meanwhile, optical micrographs and scanning electron micrograph show that the pks ash both non – preheated and preheated are homogenously distributed into the matrix. This is further confirmed by the energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mapping of the various samples. Although pks ash particles are only visible on the optical microscope micrographs, the elemental analysis of the various samples through EDS show a strong presence of carbon at various degree proving the presence of pks ash in the composite. Overall, preheating does not significantly affect the surface morphology of the AMCs based on the derived optical and scanning electron micrographs and AMC with higher content of pks ash particles seems to have better mechanical properties.
Highlights
The world production of palm oil and palm kernel oil has grown to over 56 million tonnes and the World Bank estimates that world consumption will double by 2020 says a report of the Global Palm Oil Conference [1]
Nanoparticles used as reinforcement contribute to the increasing of hardness and this is mainly due to Hall–Petch mechanism, grain refinement and particle strengthening effects which act as obstacles to the motion of dislocations [24]. [25] found that particle distribution significantly affected the mechanical properties of the composites
When comparing based on the percentage mix of pks ash, it is clear that the aluminium matrix composite (AMC) with 4% mix is much stronger than the 2% mix with average hardness value of 69.23
Summary
The world production of palm oil and palm kernel oil has grown to over 56 million tonnes and the World Bank estimates that world consumption will double by 2020 says a report of the Global Palm Oil Conference [1]. Agro – waste products processed into ashes and their suitability for use as reinforcing phase material in AMCs studied include; bagasse ash [10]; rice husk[11]; bamboo [12],corn cob [13], groundnut [14], eggshells [15], Palm kernel shell [16 and 17]. [17] examined the effect of palm kernel shell ash on the mechanical properties of as-cast aluminium alloy matrix composites.
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