Title: Modelling for surface roughness of non-ferrous alloy castings using response surface methodology

Authors: Rajesh Kumar; Inderpreet Singh Ahuja

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, IET, Bhaddal (Punjab), India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Punjabi University, Patiala 147001, Punjab, India

Abstract: Surface roughness (SR), in case of a casted functional component is always regarded as a good predictor of the performance as it affects the magnitude of friction forces at mating surfaces. The objective of this paper is to develop a mathematical model in order to investigate the influence of casting process parameters like: shell wall thickness (SWT), pouring temperature (PT) and weight density (WD) on the quality of surface produced in shell casting. After identification of the benchmark, three dimensional printer (3DP) was used to make shell moulds for casting of non-ferrous alloy (NFA). The experiments were conducted using NFA materials like; aluminium, zinc, lead, copper, brass and bronze. SR was measured with Mitutoyo SJ-201 surface profile tester and the results obtained were used for developing a regression model using response surface methodology (RSM). A second order mathematical model, in terms of casting parameters, has been developed for the prediction of roughness parameter. Further, the model developed was validated by analysis of variance (ANOVA) which indicated the significance of model. The statistical analysis showed that SWT and PT were the most significant parameters for SR.

Keywords: surface roughness; shell casting; 3DP; 3D printing; non ferrous alloys; NFA; mathematical modelling; response surface methodology; RSM; modelling; surface quality; casting process parameters; shell wall thickness; pouring temperature; weight density; shell moulds; aluminium; zinc; lead; copper; brass; bronze.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMATEI.2015.072851

International Journal of Materials Engineering Innovation, 2015 Vol.6 No.4, pp.257 - 271

Received: 17 Jan 2015
Accepted: 20 Jun 2015
Published online: 04 Nov 2015 *

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