Development and Characterization of Metal Matrix Composite Using Red Mud an Industrial Waste for Wear Resistant Applications

Abstract

Red mud emerges as the major waste material during production of alumina from bauxite by the Bayer’s process. It comprises of oxides of iron, titanium, aluminum and silica along with some other minor constituents. Based on economics as well as environmental related issues, enormous efforts have been directed worldwide towards red mud management issues i.e. of utilization, storage and disposal. Different avenues of red mud utilization are more or less known but none of them have so far proved to be economically viable or commercially feasible. It is generally agreed that resistance to wear of MMCs is created by reinforcement and also the wear properties are improved remarkably by introducing hard intermetallic compound into the aluminium matrix. The reinforcing materials are generally SiC, Al2O3, TiB2 etc and are costly. The present research work has been undertaken with an objective to explore the use of red mud as a reinforcing material as a low cost option. This is due to...