PALM KERNEL SHELL ASH PARTICLE REINFORCEMENT ON AL-MG-SI AND ITS EFFECT ON THE MECHANICAL AND THERMAL BEHAVIOUR

The demand for high-performance materials has increased particularly across all industries in recent
times due to the various areas of applications. Industries now require materials with a high strength-toweight ratio, excellent anti-corrosion properties, good mechanical properties and good thermal
conductivity. Given this, this study investigated the effect of palm kernel shell ash particle addition on
the mechanical and thermal properties of Al-Mg-Si material. The mechanical properties of aluminium
alloy (Al-Mg-Si)/palm kernel shell ash (PKSA) particles composites developed by powder metallurgy
method were investigated. Also, Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), and Differential Thermal
Analysis (DTA) analysis were carried out to determine their thermal properties. The produced PKSA
was characterized with XRF to determine its elemental composition and the result showed that the
presence of phases such as SiO K O and Fe O in high proportions which are known to be hard with
extreme thermal resistance indicates a better chance as reinforcement. The mechanical properties
(hardness, impact strength and flexural deflection) and the thermal properties were used as criteria to
access the PKSA reinforced composite. Results revealed that there is an improved mechanical property
of the developed composites (with a 43.76% increase in the hardness value and 252.03% increase in the
impact strength) which is not farfetched from the reinforcement effect on the reduction in the percentage
of elongation.