Use of grey relational analysis for multi-objective optimisation of NiTiCu shape memory alloy produced by powder metallurgy process

Abstract

Powder metallurgy process was used in this work to produce NiTi specimens. Uniaxial compression, X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry were used for characterising the produced samples. L9 orthogonal arrays were chosen based on the Taguchi method for conducting the experiments. In order to optimise the processing parameters and also to determine the level of importance of each parameter, experiments were performed based on grey relational method. Our goal was to optimise recoverable strain ( ε) and the finishing temperature of austenitic transformation ( Af). Sintering time, compaction pressure, milling time and the atomic percentage of Cu were all selected as controllable parameters. Our results reveal that the sintering time and the atomic percentage of Cu are the most significant parameters. The findings were verified through a confirmatory test.