Characterization of Coconut Shell Ash for Potential Utilization in Metal Matrix Composites for Automotive Applications.

摘要

Coconut shell ash is agricultural waste. The waste is produced in abundance globally and poses risk to health as well as environment. Thus their effective, conducive and eco-friendly utilization has always been a challenge for scientific applications. This paper mainly deals with identification of characteristics of coconut shell ash using spectroscopic and microscopic analysis. Density, Particle size, Refractoriness, SEM, XRD, XRF and FTIR spectroscopic methods were used for the characterization of the coconut shell ash. The results were compared and it was observed that the ash possesses nearly same chemical phases and other functional groups as reinforcement like fly ash, rice husk ash, bagasse ash that have been in Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) specifically for automobile applications. Hence, coconut shell ash can be used as a low cost reinforcement in Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs).