Abstract
An investigation into the effect of preheating the powder particles versus not preheating before
mixing it with an aluminium slurry was carried out. This was seen as way of overcoming the
challenge of wettability which often occurs when powder particles are added to a melted metal
for the purpose of developing a metal matrix composite. In this study, non – preheated, 2 w.%
preheated and 4 w.% preheated palm kernel shell ash powder was used to develop an aluminium
matrix composite (AMC) via stir casting method. Mechanical properties revealed that AMC
with 4 w.% pks ash inclusion has the highest Vickers Hardness value. Meanwhile, optical
micrographs and scanning electron micrograph show that the pks ash both non – preheated and
preheated are homogenously distributed into the matrix. This is further confirmed by the energy
dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mapping of the various samples. Although pks ash particles are
only visible on the optical microscope micrographs, the elemental analysis of the various
samples through EDS show a strong presence of carbon at various degree proving the presence
of pks ash in the composite. Overall, preheating does not significantly affect the surface...