Taguchi-based grey relational analysis of abrasive water jet machining of Al-6061

Abstract

This paper presents an analytical approach for optimising machining parameters in Al-6061 aluminium alloy using abrasive water jet machining (AWJM). The influence of three input parameters, namely Standoff Distance (SOD), Abrasive mass flow rate (AMF), and Transverse Speed (TS), on three selected responses parameters, namely material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness (SR), and kerf width (Kf), is modelled using the Taguchi method. A correlation between the MRR, SF, and Kf is demonstrated. SOD, TS, and AMF have all been shown to have statistically significant effects on MRR, SF, and Kf independently. When the grey relational analysis is considered for the best adequacy i.e. for obtaining the optimal desired output characteristics under selected boundary conditions, AMF has shown to have a relatively less effect on SF and Kerf as compared to SOD and TS. As a result, the potential for optimizing the parameters in the AWJM process of Al-6061, through TGRA has been successfully demonstrated, as the evaluations show that the AWJM process responses can be enhanced efficiently as per desirability by using TGRA optimization approach.