Animal waste powder utilization for Al6061/SiC composite using friction stir processing with scroll shoulder hexagonal tool

Nowadays, a lot of animal waste is available in the world. To reduce the number of animal waste particles, it is used as reinforcement, reducing the cost of reinforcement without affecting the present qualities. In this research, AA6061 is used because of its lower weight-to-strength ratio whereas to reduce the cost of reinforcement, chicken bone powder (CBP) with varying percentages (2%, 4%, and 6%) and 2% SiC is used. A hexagonal tool with a scroll shoulder is used for the fabrication of AA6061/SiC/CBP hybrid composite. Microstructural analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), fractography analysis, tool analysis, tensile strength, and hardness are used for the analysis of AA6061/SiC/CBP hybrid composite. Microstructural analysis shows that the grain size of SiC and CBP particles is reduced from 40 to 4.6 μm. Homogenous distribution of the reinforcement with no agglomeration is observed in SEM analysis. Fractography shows the presence of dimples and micro-dimples which indicates that tensile strength increases whereas XRD analysis investigates that there are no unwanted contaminants present in the AA6061/SiC/CBP hybrid composite which can be harmful during machining. Tensile strength and hardness of AA6061/SiC/CBP hybrid composite increase up to 29.28% and 18.22%, respectively, on increasing the percentage of chicken bone powder in reinforcement.