Utilization of recycled hazardous waste bagasse as reinforcement to develop green composite material

Abstract

Purpose In the current scenario, air pollution and soil pollution from the industries wastes are one of the major problems all over the world. Further, disposal of these wastes from industries are very costly. However, several attempts were carried out by various researchers in the past to use these wastes. One of the most common waste products is bagasse from sugar industries. These hazardous bagasse wastes lead to air and soil pollution. This study aims to recycle bagasse waste in the development of aluminium base composite as partial replacement of ceramic particles. Design/methodology/approach In the present investigation, recycled bagasse waste was used in the development of aluminium base composite as partial replacement of ceramic particles such as SiC, Al2O3 and B4C. Production industries of these ceramic particles (SiC, B4C and Al2O3) emit huge amount of greenhouse gases such as N2O3, CH4, CO2 and H2O. These green house gases produce lots of environment problem. Furthermore, production of these ceramic particles is also costly. AA6061 aluminium alloy was taken as matrix material. Composite material was developed using the stir casting technique. Findings Microstructure results showed proper distribution of bagasse ash and MgO powder in the aluminium base metal matrix composite. It was notified from analysis that minimum corrosion loss and minimum porosity were found for Al/2.5% bagasse ash/12.5% MgO powder composite. For the same composition, hardness and thermal expansion were also observed better as compared to other selected compositions. However, density and cost of composites continuously decrease by increasing percentage of bagasse ash in development of composite. Originality/value Results showed about 11.30% improvement in tensile strength, 11.64% improvement in specific strength and 40% improvement in hardness by using bagasse ash as reinforcement with MgO powder in development of aluminium base composite.