Abstract:
This research work is inspired by the 3Rs: Reduce; Reuse and Recycle enabling the fabrication of green
and clean metal matrix composites. In addition to the environmental benefits, recycling of industrial
waste produced by metal machining industry have significant financial advantages. Consequently, the
present study aimed to explore suitability of the waste chips produced during turning and grinding operations of mild steel for the fabrication of metal-matrix composite (MMCs) through powder metallurgy (P/
M) route have been exhibited. Field emission electron microscopy (FESEM) and Energy-dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (EDS) have been used to evaluate morphology and composition of starting materials
Flowability and compressibility of the starting materials have been explored using the Hausner’s ratio
and Carr’s index respectively. The apparent and tapped densities of the mild steel turning chips
(MSTCs) 1.88 and 2.17 g/cc. Further in case of steel grinding chips (SGCs) densities were found to be
1.92 and 2.12 g/cc respectively. On the other hand, the on addition of SGCs(0–30 wt%) to the MSTCs
the flowability observed to be retarded a bit. Based on the initial investigations it can be concluded that
the waste MSTCs and SGC can suitably be processed through P/M to fabricate sustainable MMCs.
