ANN Laser Hardening Quality Modeling Using Geometrical and Punctual Characterizing Approaches

Ilyes Maamri,Noureddine Barka,Abderrazak El Ouafi

doi:10.3390/coatings8060226

Abstract

Maximum hardness and hardened depth are the responses of interest in relation to the laser hardening process. These values define heat treatment quality and have a direct impact on mechanical performance. This paper aims to develop models capable of predicting the shape of the hardness profile depending on laser process parameters for controlling laser hardening quality (LHQ), or rather the response values. An experimental study was conducted to highlight hardened profile sensitivity to process input parameters such as laser power (PL), beam scanning speed (VS) and initial hardness in the core (HC). LHQ modeling was conducted by modeling attributes extracted from the hardness profile curve using two effective techniques based on the punctual and geometrical approaches. The process parameters with the most influence on the responses were laser power, beam scanning speed and initial hardness in the core. The obtained results demonstrate that the geometrical approach is more accurate and credible than the punctual approach according to performance assessment criteria.

Highlights

In the face of global competitive intensity, research and development efforts are needed to improve the control of industrial processes to ensure quality of production and reduce development time, thereby supporting the competitiveness of manufacturing companies
Information provided by analysis of variation (ANOVA) analysis includes degrees of freedom, sum of squares, mean square, p-value and f -value; based on this information, the process parameters were ranked according to their importance in the experiment
When using the geometrical approach, the convergence relationship between the modeled and eventual variables or mean absolute error (MAE) values were somewhat larger than when the punctual approach was used in both the training (T) and validation (V) tests cases

Summary

Introduction

In the face of global competitive intensity, research and development efforts are needed to improve the control of industrial processes to ensure quality of production and reduce development time, thereby supporting the competitiveness of manufacturing companies In this sense, surface hardening is presented as very promising process that achieves certain desirable mechanical conditions and/or properties. The basic principle of heat treatment is to carry out one or a combination of operations that involve heating and cooling of steel substrates while maintaining as much of their initial form and surface as possible. Several engineering techniques can be used during the surface hardening process including coating, diffusion and selective hardening methods [2]

Objectives

Results

Conclusion