Application of Response Surface Methodology and Enhanced Non- dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm for Optimisation of Grinding Process

Abstract

Optimisation of grinding process during grinding of Al6061-SiC composites is investigated in this study. Stir cast Al6061-SiC composites with varying volume percentage of SiC reinforcement were ground on a conventional grinding machine with diamond grit grinding wheel. Three grinding variables were studied for simultaneous optimization of material removal rate and surface roughness. Initially, the response surface models for grinding process parameters were developed using response surface methodology. Further, the developed models were optimized using enhanced elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (enhanced NSGA-II), a time saving algorithm in comparison to conventional NSGA-II. The suitable grinding conditions for multi-objective optimization of the grinding process were obtained from enhanced NSGA-II. Finally the confirmation tests were performed to validate the results obtained from response surface methodology and enhanced NSGA-II. It is observed that, experimental results and the results obtained from enhanced NSGA-II are in close conformance. Hence it is concluded that the developed algorithm can effectively be used for optimization of grinding process.