Synthesis and Characterization of Coconut Shell Ash

Synthesizing Coconut Shell Ash (CSA) is a kind of manufacturing the powder form ash material which can be incorporated in the composite as reinforcement. This ash material used to improve the mechanical properties of metals when added in Metal Matrix Composite's (MMC's) based preparation. The fabrication of CSA powder is the preparatory functional part, because it varies its properties based on the manufacturing method. In this work, a novel method is used to manufacture the ash powder and to study the physical and chemical properties of CSA particles. CSA particles are synthesized in open fire hearth. Physical properties such as pH, ash content, moisture content, loss on ignition, density, surface area, pore volume and pore dia were studied. Chemical characterization study is carried out for chemical composition analysis, the morphology of ash particles, percentage of various elements present and various chemical functional groups present in the samples through XRF, SEM/EDS and FTIR techniques respectively. Crystallite structures, average particle size, and thermal stability of CSA were investigated by XRD and TGA methods. The result shows that the total maximum percentage of SiO₂, Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃ (~84%) will increase the strength of MMC's. The total percentage of Ca and K is minimum than the other CSA preparation methods, so that it will reduce the corrosion. And also produce low density ash powder (1.65 gm/cc) which will reduce the weight and density of MMC's. This CSA powder can be used in MMC where maximum strength-weight ratio and wear resistance is required.