Effects of milling time on the structural and morphological features of Si- Based refractory compounds derived from selected Agro-Wastes Adeolu Adesoji Adediran a,b,c,⇑ , Kenneth Kanayo Alaneme b,e , Isiaka Oluwole Oladele b , Esther Titilayo Akinlabi d , Bamidele Lawrence Bayode e a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, PMB 1001, Kwara State, Nigeria b Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, PMB 704, Ondo State, Nigeria c Landmark University Waste to Wealth and Energy Initiative, P.M.B. 1001, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria d Department of Mechanical Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park Campus, Johannesburg, South Africa e Centre for Nanomechanics and Tribocorrosion, School of Chemical, Metallurgical and Minging Engineering, University of Johannesburg, South Africa article info Article history: Received 27 March 2020 Received in revised form 11 May 2020 Accepted 15 May 2020 Available online xxxx Keywords: Ball milling Agro-wastes SiC Structural Morphology Polytype abstract The effects of milling time on the structural and morphological features of Si-based refractory compounds (SBRC) derived from selected agro-wastes (bamboo leaves- BL and coconut shell-CS) are reported. The processing of the SBRC was done using the controlled environment of a conventional furnace at a heating rate of 10°/min between 900 and 1650 °C. The SBRC was then placed in 250 ml vial containing zirconia balls as grinding media of 8 mm in diameter to mill in an argon atmosphere (ultra-pure with 99.98% wt, < 3 ppm O 2 ) using a planetary mill, Retsch, with a speed of 300 rpm. A ball-to-powder ratio (BPR) of 10:1 with 3 wt% of ethanol as process control agent (PCA) were used. The optimum milling time used was 25 h at a variation of 5 h. The morphological features were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM/EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The SEM results revealed a good dispersion of SBRC in the network of the BL and CS respectively. SiC precipitating as moissanite phase being a polytype of SiC with cubic structure was revealed from the XRD spectrum for BL sample. Also, other intermetallic phases were evident from all the samples under different milling time. It is evident that size grows with milling time due to high plastic deformation. It was observed that the milling time influenced, to a sig- nificant extent, the dislocation density. The attainment of a nanometer scale particle sizes was achieved using this method. The SBRC shows a good potential as nano-reinforcement materials for the develop- ment of aluminium matrix composites. Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Sympo- sium on Nanostructured, Nanoengineered and Advanced Materials. 1. Introduction Silicon carbide (SiC) production has suffered a draw back in the developing country, especially Nigeria. This drawback, has been attributed to the absence of high enormous technology involved in the production process [1-3]. Among other synthetic reinforcing materials, SiC are reportedly been utilized mostly in composites production among many other uses [4]. This is because they exhi- bit excellent properties some of which are: high stiffness, hardness, good wear resistance [5-7]. Thus, making it a good candidate as reinforcement material in the design of metal matrix composites [4]. Essentially, the production of SiC involve different processing route, few of which are sol–gel [8], carbothermal [3,9]. Researchers [1,10] have reported that carbothermal process is an economical and simple route of processing. The potential inherent in agro-wastes material as starting material in the synthesis of Si-based refractory compounds (SBRC) has been documented [11]. This include the high silica content in their structure and the accessibility of this set of material. In the development of metal matrix composites (MMC), the size of the crystals used as reinforcement significantly influences the microstructure and mechanical property of the composites developed. The possibilities of achieving a size reduction in Si-based refractory materials using high-energy ball milling without thermal treatment protocol was https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.416 2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Symposium on Nanostructured, Nanoengineered and Advanced Materials. ⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, PMB 1001, Kwara State, Nigeria. E-mail address: adediran.adeolu@lmu.edu.ng (A.A. Adediran). Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Materials Today: Proceedings journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr Please cite this article as: A. A. Adediran, K. K. Alaneme, I. O. Oladele et al., Effects of milling time on the structural and morphological features of Si-Based refractory compounds derived from selected Agro-Wastes, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.416