Study of Wear Behaviour of Rice Husk Ceramic Composites

Abstract

In recent years composites have attracted substantial importance as a potential structural material. The most basic & common attractive features composites that make them useful for industrial applications are low cost, light weights, high specific modulus, renewability and biodegradability. Rice Husk ceramics composites are an important area of interest these days for development of new composite materials. These composites are gaining importance due to their non-carcinogenic and bio-degradable nature. Rice Husk contains about 20% ash, 22% lignin, 38% cellulose, 18% pentosans, 2% moisture. But once the husk is carburized in Nitrogen atmosphere it forms Rice Husk ash. This ash contains 95% silica (SiO2), 1% K2O, 1% CaO, P2O5 & Na2O3, Fe2O3 & MgO. The silica in rice husk exists in the amorphous form but became crystalline during combustion of the rice husk. The ash as standalone is very useful in making insulation products, refractory materials, Portland cement, masonry cement & pottery products. Now the scope of its usage is also extended to paints & fertilizers. It increases abrasion characteristics & hence finds application in aluminum industries.
Keeping this in view the present research work has been under taken with an objective to explore the use of rice husk ash as potential filler in polymer composite and to study its wear behavior. To study the wear properties the components made from these rice husk ceramics is subjected to wear test using a Pin-on-Disc apparatus. Experiments have been conducted under laboratory conditions to asses the wear behaviour of the rice husk ceramic composites in polymer matrix. The change in weight is studied for a single velocity & various loads applied to composites which vary in the percentage of filler & percentage of matrix. The final result is drawn from the wear test. The conclusion helps us to predict the wear behavior various constituents of rice husk ceramic composites under varying loads & a fixed speed.