Taguchi Optimization of Fracture Toughne

In India, agricultural wastes such as palm ash and rice husk, which are abundant and have a high potential for usage as usable renewable energy and silica. Silicon carbide (SiC) is utilized for various applications due to its high hardness, compressive strength, and good wear resistance. In this work, a cleaner and green methodology was adopted to produce SiC from various agricultural wastes like peanut shells, rice husks, sugar cane extracts, and corn cob. Pyrolysis experiments were carried out by varying parameters such as heating temperature (600 to 800 °C), heating time (160 to 180 min), and quantity of waste (450 to 550 g) to convert agricultural wastes into powder SiC. X-ray diffraction, Raman, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscope confirms the formation of SiC phase in SiC. The sintering process parameters such as heating rate (5 to 15°C/min), cooling rate (5 to 15 °C/min), and pressure (60 to 80 MPa) were selected for finding fracture toughness of sintered SiC. The process parameters for the pyrolysis and sintering process were optimized by the Taguchi optimization technique. Confirmation tests were conducted with optimum process parameters and the results indicated that confirmation results are correlated with predicted results.