Agricultural Waste as a Reinforcement Particulate for Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite (AMMCs): A Review

Abstract

The desire to create sustainable development through research birthed this study. Over time, several authors have focused on the utilization of various chemical particulates as reinforcement constituents for metallic matric composites (MMCs) and aluminum metal matrix composites (AMMCs), which has thus far yielded positive outcomes for achieving the chemical, mechanical, microstructural, thermal, corrosion, and wear property improvement of various reinforced composites. However, this study focused on the search for the residing potentials in alternative materials that can be used as reinforcement particulates in place of the commonly used graphite, silicon nitride, titanium nitride, zirconium, and the likes. This study literarily revealed, via several reviews of literature, that the search for less expensive and easily procured materials with a silicon oxide and magnesium oxide chemical content instigated the utilization of materials from agricultural waste (agro-waste). According to the reviewed literature, some of the waste materials from agriculture that have been found to be useful for the particulate reinforcement of composites are groundnut shell, coconut shell, rice husk, breadfruit seed hull ash, aloe vera, bean pod ash, cow horn, and so on. It was discovered that processed agro-wastes in the form of powdery particulates have demonstrated great reinforcing abilities, as recorded in literature. In addition, they enhanced the mechanical properties of the various composites developed in comparison to the as-cast materials.

A review on primary synthesis and secondary treatment of aluminium matrix composites

“…The use of agro-waste in the production of engineering materials is gaining wide acceptance due to its low cost, availability and the enormous advantage of reducing the rate of environmental pollution (Alaneme, Eze, & Bodunrin, 2015;Joseph & Babaremu, 2019). The use of ash sourced from agro waste such as rice husk, groundnut shell, bamboo leaf, coconut shell, sugarcane bagasse, corn cob, palm kernel and periwinkle shell have been identified as suitable ceramic reinforcement materials for synthesizing AMCs (Alaneme, Bodunrin, & Awe, 2018;Joseph & Babaremu, 2019;Kulkarni, Siddeswarappa, & Kumar, 2019). The authors reported that the ash forms of the mentioned agro wastes are rich in silicon and magnesium and could be deployed as reinforcement materials in AMCs.…”

Sustainability of multifaceted usage of biomass: A review

“…Graphite is one of the allotropes of crystalline carbon is known for its good electrical properties and high melting point which make it suitable for casting and moulding applications. This has led scientists to explore synthesizing graphite from several other sources to complement its natural source due to increased demand ( Raghavan et al., 2017 ; Joseph and Babaremu, 2019 ). Samsul et al.…”

Effect of TiC addition on the mechanical properties and microstructure of Al-Si alloy

“…Aluminium-based metal matrix composites and aluminium-silicon alloys have found usage in the production of a number of automotive engine machineries [6]. Based on these recent growths, there is a demand for composite materials possessing great chemical and mechanical characteristics including toughness, improved corrosion resistance and high hardness [7]. Recently, researches on metal matrix composites (MMC) suggest that these materials display advantageous industrial applications owing to their high resistance to elevated temperature and greater strength-toweight ratio.…”