Characterization and comparison of treated and untreated rich hush ash & fly ash for metal matrix composites

Rice Husk ash and fly ash are agricultural and coal wastes respectively. These are 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 community. The fly ash has been used as reinforcement for improved mechanical properties of composites. Rice husk ash can also be used for similar applications as its composition is almost similar to that of fly ash. This paper mainly deals with identification of characteristics of both the fly ash and rice husk ash using spectroscopic and microscopic analysis. SEM, XRD, XRF and FTIR spectroscopic methods were used for the characterization of treated and untreated ashes. The results were compared and it was observed that both ashes possesses nearly same chemical phases and other functional groups thus proposing the use of rice husk ash as reinforcement like fly ash in Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) specifically for wear resistance applications.