Abstract: Rice husk ash (RHA) is one of the industrial waste byproduct available abundantly in the world. In the present  work, an attempt is made to incorporate the RHA particles in the molten aluminum A356.2 alloy. The RHA particles were added into the matrix melt by creating a vortex with the help of a mechanical  stirrer and the melt temperature was maintained between 800 and 850 °C. Dry sliding wear experiments were performed in a pin on disc wear equipment against a chromium steel disc at 30 °C. Scanning electron microscopy is used to study the wear characteristics of the unreinforced Al alloy and the A356.2/RHA composites. From the experiments it is observed that the composites exhibit higher hardness and resistance to wear as compared to unreinforced Al alloy.

Key words: Rice husk ash, A356.2, Aluminum alloy, Wear