Optimization of process parameters inend milling of Al-4032 based metal matrix composite using TGRA

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ABSTRACT

The Al-4032/SiC metal matrix composites are quite useful for low density, high corrosion resistance and improved mechanical properties. Usually, 2–8% SiC reinforcement has been researched for various industrial applications. Progressive increase in the reinforcement (SiC) composition in the Al-4032 matrix causes reduction in ductility and increase in brittleness. This paper presents the research on machining aspects of the Al-4032 with 3% SiC reinforcement. Work has been carried out to study the response of cutting speed (CS), feed rate (FR) and depth of cut (DOC) upon the material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR). The experiments have been done on the Computer Numeric Control (CNC) vertical machine centre. The machining (end milling) experiments have been conducted following the Taguchi’s L₉ orthogonal array. For attempting the bi-objective optimisation (i.e. maximisation of MRR and minimisation of the surface roughness), Taguchi’s grey relational analysis (TGRA) has been implemented using equal weightage to both the response parameters (W₁ = W₂ = 0.5). The model so obtained has been tested through ANOVA to discover the statistically significant elements. The CS (52.40%) appears to make the largest percentage contribution to the composite response, followed by the FR (26.60%), and the DOC (19.45%).

KEYWORDS:

• Al-4032/SiC MMC
• end milling
• surface roughness
• multi response optimisation
• TGRA

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).