Comparison of various multi-criteria decision methods for the selection of quality hole produced by ultrasonic machining process

Abstract

Ultrasonic Machining (USM) is considered to be one of the best non-traditional machining (NTM) processes to machine hard and brittle materials. Quality of holes machined using USM is of utmost importance because of huge cost involved in the process. In the present work, an attempt has been made to optimize USM process by minimizing hole oversize, out of roundness and conicity as quality measures for machining WC-Co composites. VIKOR, MABAC and CoCoSo MCDM techniques are used to optimize while the weight allocation to each criterion has been done using MEREC. It was found that “out of roundness” has the highest criteria weight among the three criteria. VIKOR, MABAC and CoCoSo were successfully used to optimize the USM process. It was found that high Cobalt content of less thickness if machined with hollow stainless-steel tool with fine abrasive particles would result in better quality holes. Correlation analysis showed more than 98% correlation between the MCDM techniques used.