7 - Fractional factorial designs

Abstract

Publisher Summary Experimenters utilize fractional factorial designs to study the most important factors or process/design parameters that influence critical quality characteristics. Fractional factorial experiments are used for pilot studies and screening experiments where the goal is to gain the maximum information about a process in a limited number of experimental trials. This chapter provides details for constructing fractional factorial experiments and highlighting the problems associated with highly fractionated factorial experiments wherein main effects are confounded or aliased with two-order interactions. Fractional factorial design is a type of orthogonal array design that allows experimenters to study main effects and desired interaction effects in a minimum number of trials. These fractional factorial designs are the most widely and commonly used types of design in industry. Extensive graphical tools have been used through the use of real-world examples in manufacturing industry.