Silicon Nanoparticles Derived from Waste Rice Husk as Potential Siliconizing Material for Mild Steel

One of the case-hardening techniques used to improve the characteristics of various materials based on carbon steel is siliconizing. Through siliconizing, mild steel gears, rolling engineering components, and pickling tanks may provide improved corrosion and wear resistance properties. The high cost of silicon, however, prevented siliconized mild steel from being widely used, which is why processing agro-waste materials is being done as a cure. In this study, the sol-gel process was used to produce silicon nanoparticles from discarded rice husk. Mild steel was siliconized using the resulting silicon nanoparticles. It was decided upon the microstructure, hardness levels, wear, and corrosion testing. This experiment demonstrates that siliconizing mild steel—which may be used to make gears and storage tanks—with leftover rice husk can result in higher hardness values as well as better resistance to corrosion and wear.