A comparative study of waste eggshells, CaCO3, and SiC-reinforced AA2014 green metal matrix composites

The influences of weight percentage of different reinforcement particles such as SiC particles, waste uncarbonized eggshell particles, carbonized eggshell particles, and CaCO3 powder were compared in the processing of aluminium-based metal matrix composite. The results revealed that by the addition of SiC particles up to 10wt.% and waste eggshell particles up to 12.5wt.% in AA2014 matrix alloy, the tensile strength, hardness, and fatigue strength increased. Toughness and ductility decreased by the addition of SiC and eggshell particles in AA2014 matrix alloy. Corrosion rate decreased by the addition of SiC particle up to 7.5wt.% and eggshell particles up to 12.5wt.%. Results showed that hardness and heat-treatable properties are improved after the addition of SiC reinforcement particles in AA2014 aluminium alloy as compared to eggshell particles. However, porosity and overall cost increased after addition of SiC particles in AA2014 alloy. Corrosion rate increased after the heat treatment for all reinforced metal matrix composite. These results showed that using the carbonized eggshell as reinforcement in the AA2014 alloy gave better physical properties at lower cost as compared to SiC particles. Proper wettability was observed between matrix and reinforcement material for both carbonized eggshell particles and SiC particles. No wettability was observed between AA2014 alloy and CaCO3 reinforcement particles. Poor wettability reduced the mechanical properties of AA2014/CaCO3 metal matrix composite.