Alloy Optimization for Cost Reduction and Wear Resistance Improvement of Rotor Blade of Shot Blasting Machines Using Taguchi-GRA-PCA Technique

Abstract

The design engineer often faces the challenge of balancing the functional performance of a component with the associated costs. This research focuses on reducing the manufacturing cost of rotor blade by optimizing its alloy composition by substituting molybdenum and vanadium with cheaper metal like chromium along with improved wear properties. The most suitable combination of these three alloying elements was determined using Taguchi-GRA-PCA technique. The three levels, i.e. 12, 20 and 28 for chromium (Cr); 0.5, 0.75 and 1 for vanadium (V); and 3, 2.5 and 2 for molybdenum (Mo) and two responses i.e. wear and friction force, have been considered for L9 Orthogonal Array for Taguchi Analysis. The nine different cylindrical pin specimens as per L9 Orthogonal array configurations have been fabricated using casting. The alloy composition optimization was made possible by Taguchi-GRA-PCA technique, which successfully struck a balance between performance and cost. An ideal alloy composition was found by this hybrid technique at comparatively minimum cost, wear and friction force at a percentage of chromium as 28, vanadium as 0.75 and molybdenum as 2. The cost of the rotor blade after this alloy optimization process was reduced from INR 367 to INR 360 with improved wear properties.