Design and production of a motorcycle crankshaft from scrapped cast iron and palm kernel shell

Abstract

The motorcycle crankshafts often fail in service due to inadequate strength, hardness and toughness. This research designed and produced a motorcycle crankshaft using palm kernel shell (PKS) as a carbon source and scrapped cast iron as the base material. The design was modelled using solid work while the input materials were combined in specific proportion (94.3% cast iron scrap, 5.0 wt% PKS and 0.7% Mn) and cast into sand mould. The tensile strength, hardness property and wear rate were measured using standard procedures while morphological and phase characterisation were done with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-Ray Diffractometer, respectively. The Brinell Hardness Number (BHN) for the cast iron sample obtained was 278 HV, maximum tensile strength achieved was 272 MPa while wear rate of 1.72 × 10−6 kg/m was recorded. The developed crankshaft has higher quality characteristics when compared with the conventional one.