Evaluation of Optimized Carbonized Wheat Husk-Reinforced AA6061 Composite for Automotive Components Applications

In the pursuit of sustainable and lightweight materials for automotive applications, metal matrix composites (MMCs) have emerged as promising candidates due to their superior strength-to-weight ratios, enhanced wear resistance, and tailored mechanical properties. Aluminum-based composites, particularly those with AA6061 as the matrix, are widely recognized for their excellent corrosion resistance, weldability, and mechanical performance. However, there remains a need to improve the environmental sustainability, mechanical properties and lightweight properties of these materials through the incorporation of eco-friendly, sustainable, light and low-cost reinforcements. In this work, the reinforcement particulate, carbonized wheat husk (CWH) was gotten after pulverizing wheat husks to increase the surface area and charging it into a muffle furnace, subjected to a temperature of 900 0C for 3 hours. Thereafter, AA6061 reinforced composites (AA6061-CWH) were produced using the stir casting method, optimized through the Taguchi's L9 orthogonal array. The composite developed at optimum parameters was then selected and compared with selected automotive components. The optimized AA6061-CWH composite offers a well-balanced mechanical profile. It delivers decent tensile strength, exceptional hardness, good impact resistance, and a lower density, making it an appealing material choice for a broad spectrum of automotive applications. Its application could support the automotive industry’s ongoing pursuit of improved performance, efficiency, and sustainability through the use of affordable and eco-friendly materials.