OPTIMISATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS IN FRICTION STIR PROCESSING OF MAGNESIUM METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES USING TAGUCHI METHOD

摘要

Taguchi experimental design technique was applied to determine the most influential controlling parameters of Friction Stir Process (FSP) such as tool rotational speed, travel speed, and tool shoulder diameter on hardness value of Mg composite. The experimentation plan is designed using Taguchi's L9 Orthogonal Array (OA) and Minitab software is used. Optimal values of process parameters for desired performance characteristics are obtained by Taguchi design of experiment. Signal to noise ratio (S/N) analysis showed that maximum hardness was achieved when rotational and travel speeds and tool shoulder diameter were chosen as 540 rpm, 30 mm/min, and 2.5, respectively. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique indicated that tool travel speed and tool rotational speed are most influencing parameters and tool shoulder diameter is less significant.