Mechanical properties of rice husk ash, an environmental pollutant, based composites: A step towards sustainable hybrid composites

Abstract

ABSTRACT There is a dual perspective regarding agricultural materials. The first one is regarding the removal of certain chemical elements for specific applications, and the second one is regarding the recovery of certain elements to make them more appealing. The most appropriate use of agricultural and industrial waste materials demands the development of knowledge insights as a requirement for setting up of demonstration plants on a pilot basis and large-scale industrial adoption resulting in all associated socio-economic benefits. The Stir casting method is employed to fabricate the Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) material for the application of various industrial products. In the present paper, Aluminum (Al6061) hybrid composite is fabricated and reinforced with Silicon Carbide (SiC), Alumina (Al2O3), Zirconia (ZrSiO4) and agro-waste material, such as Rice Husk Ash (RHA) particles of various configurations. The amount of reinforcement varies SiC (0–2.5 wt%), Al2O3 (0–1.1 wt%), ZrSiO4 (0–0.5 wt%) and RHA (0–1.4 wt%). The effect of reinforcement SiC, Al2O3, ZrSiO4 and RHA on ultimate tensile strength (σut), yield strength (σyt), elongation, breaking strength (σb) and hardness has been studied. Experimental results revealed that hybrid metal matrix composites are improved for σut and σyt by 45.03% and 82.1%. The elongation and hardness of the composite are also enhanced by 19.43% and 12.72% from the base material.