Int. J. Machining and Machinability of Materials, Vol. X, No.

Y, xxxx

Selection of optimal condition for finishing of centreless-cylindrical ground parts using grey relational and principal component analyses Zahid A. Khan and Arshad Noor Siddiquee*
Mechanical Engineering Department, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India E-mail: zakhanusm@yahoo.com E-mail: arshadnsiddiqui@gmail.com *Corresponding author

Manzoor Hussain Sheikh

Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80204, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia E-mail: msheikh@kau.edu.sa E-mail: logicspk@yahoo.com
Abstract: In this paper, an attempt has been made to determine optimal setting of the centreless grinding process parameters. Three process parameters, i.e., grinding speed, grinding feed and dressing feed each at three levels were considered. The multi-performance characteristics of the process were measured in terms of diameteral deviation, out-of-roundness and surface roughness of the workpiece. Twenty-seven experiments, as per Taguchis L27 orthogonal array, were performed on EN52 steel. Grey relational analysis combined with principal component analysis was used to determine grey relational grade. Subsequently, Taguchi response table method and ANOVA were used for data analysis. Confirmation experiment was conducted to determine the gain over the initial design. Results revealed that the grinding speed of 3,500 m/min, grinding feed of 3 mm/min and dressing feed of 100 mm/min yielded the optimum multi-performance characteristics. It was also found that the dressing feed had more effect on responses followed by grinding speed and grinding feed. Keywords: centreless grinding; grey relational analysis; principal component analysis; grey relational grade; optimisation. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Khan, Z.A., Siddiquee, A.N. and Sheikh, M.H. (xxxx) Selection of optimal condition for finishing of centreless-cylindrical ground parts using grey relational and principal component analyses, Int. J. Machining and Machinability of Materials, Vol. X, No. Y, pp.000000.

Copyright 200x Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Z.A. Khan et al.

Biographical notes: Zahid A. Khan is an Associate Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University) in New Delhi, India. His major research interest includes optimisation of design and process parameters, environmental ergonomics, human-computer-interaction, quality engineering, and ANN and fuzzy modelling. He received his PhD from Jamia Millia Islamia. He received his MSc in Industrial and Production Engineering and his BSc in Mechanical Engineering, both from Aligarh Muslim University, India. He has published more than 50 research papers in reputed international/national journals/conferences. Arshad Noor Siddiquee is an Associate Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University) in New Delhi, India. His major research interest includes welding engineering, machining and optimisation of design and process parameters. He received his MTech from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi (India) and currently pursuing his Doctoral research in the area of welding from IIT, Delhi. Manzoor Husasain Sheikh is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, KSA. His major research interest includes industrial engineering and educational technology. He received his PhD, Masters and Bachelors from Preston University, Pakistan.

Introduction

Centreless grinding is an effective process for precise finishing of parts with rotational symmetry. It is different from other cylindrical grinding processes as in this process the workpiece is not mechanically constrained during grinding. During centreless grinding, the job is held over a work-blade between a grinding wheel and a smaller diameter regulating wheel. Since the workpiece is not constrained during grinding, it is a unique method for finishing products of small variety and high volume of such nature which are difficult to clamp or clamping them would spoil their finish or accuracy such as various types of pins, needles, engine valves and gauges, etc. It can achieve roundness, surface finish and accuracy, of the order of 5 , which is among the best available in metalworking. Figure 1 (Marinescu et al., 2007) illustrates schematics of the plunge feed centreless-cylindrical grinding. In order to control the centreless-cylindrical grinding process, it is necessary to quantify critical quality characteristics such as out-of-roundness, roughness and size deviation. These quality characteristics largely depend on centreless-cylindrical grinding setting conditions and process parameters. The out-of-roundness of a part is determined by the initial conditions, i.e., blade angle, part height and grinding speed. It also depends on the height of job axis above the centreline of grinding and regulating wheels. This height is adjusted by the work-blade height. The work-blade is set such that the axis of workpiece is above the centreline of grinding and regulating wheels. If the job axis lies at the same level a shape of lobe on the workpiece may be created and this may be dimensionally accurate but far from round (Marinescu et al., 2007; Zhou et al., 1996). To grind the job within acceptable limits of out-of-roundness the work-blade with its support face sloping toward regulating wheel is used. The angle of work-blade helps keep the

Selection of optimal condition for finishing of centreless-cylindrical ground

workpiece in contact with and under the control of regulating. The out-of-roundness is observed to be affected by the dwell time as well. Roughness of finished component, on the other hand, depends on the grinding gap setup, the dressing condition and the process kinematical factors (Hashimoto and Lahoti, 2004) significantly.
Figure 1 Schematic of plunge feed centreless grinding process

Source: Marinescu et al. (2007)

Dimensional deviations of the finished part are established by work rest setting below the part being ground, feed cycle time and dwell. Apart from these, the feed affects all quality attributes including out-of-roundness, roughness and dimensional accuracy. Since, during grinding, the job is held and fed among grinding wheel, regulating wheel and work-blade, it is the relationship among these three basic components which makes the difference between a successful centreless grinding application and the one that spoils quality. The quality parameters such as out-of-roundness, surface finish and dimensional accuracy greatly depend on these machine setting and process parameters such as grinding speed, grinding feed and dressing feed. The equipment setting is done based on knowledge derived from experience, skill and from the machining handbook. Although it is a process of choice for precision grinding; the desired level of accuracies and finish can only be obtained by proper setting of equipment and optimisation of process parameters. Improper settings lead to various problems like out-of-roundness, barrel shapes, chatter, feed lines, spiral scratches, etc. (Dhavlikar et al., 2003). It is because of these reasons centreless grinding is very complicated and it is difficult to optimise the process parameters. Literature reviewed on the subject revealed that not much literature is available on centreless grinding. However, some literature is available on the stability and simulation of the process but its research is mainly focused on design aspects of centreless grinding machines. Drazumeric et al. (2010) have done the modelling of micro-gap geometry and workpiece kinematics during through-feed centreless grinding. Hashitomo and Lahoti (2004) have optimised the setup condition for the stability of centreless grinding process. Gallegoa et al. (2006) investigated the effect of geometric lobbing on workpiece roundness for through feed centreless grinding through simulation technique and they developed software. They demonstrated the use of software to predict the optimal

Z.A. Khan et al.

working configuration and observed a significant reduction in the setup time. In addition, they also found considerable improvement in the roundness error and surface roughness of the workpiece. Krajnik et al. (2008) developed an analytical model of plunge centreless grinding which incorporates the forming mechanism along with workpiece dynamics and also facilitates the simulation of workpiece form and its centre displacement. Zhou et al. (1996) have studied the effect of setup condition on the lobing behaviour during centreless grinding. Zhou and Petrosky (1997) have optimised the grinding cycle length using computer simulation to minimise the out-of-roundness during centreless grinding process. Yongbo and Masana (2001) have evaluated the centreless grinding conditions by measuring the dynamic components of grinding force and they found that the frequency characteristics of the waviness decrease rate by measuring the dynamic component of the grinding force on work rest blade. Dhavlikar et al. (2003) have applied Taguchi method with dual response technique to optimise the roundness during centreless grinding process. Krajnik et al. (2005) have developed an empirical model and optimised the plunge centreless grinding process to improve the roughness of ground part using response surface methodology. They have considered height of job axis, in-feed and dressing-feed to optimise the roughness. For a centreless grinding process, Harrison and Pearce (2002) have generated stability diagrams encompassing the entire practical range of machine setup angles to indicate the effect of setup angles on rapid rounding of arbitrarily lobed components. In a prescribed manner during grinding, could be achieved. The roundness error (out-of-roundness) is a critical quality measure which influences the life of the components. Automobile industries often require components with out-of-roundness limited to a maximum of 5 m. It is a function of many parameters and their interactions. Roughness is another quality parameter which considerably affects the service and fatigue life of the manufactured parts. It is, therefore, an ideal situation for using the methodology of design of experiments coupled with a proper optimisation technique to get better insight about the process, and subsequently identify robust design parameters. Usually, the desired process parameters are determined based on experience or handbook values. However, this does not ensure whether a truly or near optimal results of centreless-cylindrical grinding performance can be obtained or not. Therefore, it is highly expected for industry to search for a simple and effective methodology that can be used to quickly optimise the centreless-cylindrical grinding process parameters. In this paper, the proposed method is grey relational analysis combined with principal component analysis to study the optimisation problem of the plunge-feed centreless-cylindrical grinding process parameters for the grinding of engine valve stem made of EN52 steel.

Method

2.1 Experimental procedure

The experiments were conducted on a plunge-feed centreless-cylindrical grinding machine (make: HMT; model: GCL-50 TG CNC). The schematic diagram of the centreless-cylindrical grinding process is shown in Figure 1 (Marinescu et al., 2007). The process involved centreless-cylindrical grinding of an internal combustion (IC) engine valve stem made of EN52 grade valve steel having 79.6 mm diameter. An A100 L5 V45

Selection of optimal condition for finishing of centreless-cylindrical ground

grinding wheel (make: Carborundum Universal Limited, India) rotating at 1,400 rpm (giving a surface speed of 45 m/s) and an A80RR control wheel were used for this purpose. The centreless-cylindrical grinding process was carried out over a length of 98 mm of valve stem (Figure 2) with a job height of 212 mm above the work-blade. The composition of the EN52 is given in Table 1.
Table 1 Composition of EN52 grade valve steel Chemical composition (average values in %) Grade EN52 Figure 2 C Si Mn P 0.04 max S 0.03 max Cr 8.010.0 Mo Ni N 0.400.50 2.703.30 0.80 max EN52 IC engine valve

Ground Length = 98 mm

2.2 Experimental design

The deviation in diameter, out-of-roundness and roughness of the IC engine valve stem were selected as response variables to evaluate centreless-cylindrical grinding process performance. After careful examination of all possible parameters that affect the performance characteristics, three parameters (grinding speed, grinding feed and dressing feed) were chosen and were varied to obtain optimum levels of parameters for acceptable quality. The centreless-cylindrical grinding process parameters and their levels are shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Grinding process parameters and their levels Symbol A B C Units m/min mm/min mm/min Levels Level 1 1,200 1.0 100 Level 2 2,400 3.0 300 Level 3 3,500 4.0 500

Grinding process parameters Grinding speed Grinding feed Dressing feed

79.6 mm

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Table 3

Z.A. Khan et al.

Experimental layout using an L27 orthogonal array 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 BC 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 A 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 4 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 5 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 B 6 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 C 7 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 BC 8 1 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 1 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 1 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 9 1 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 2 3 1 3 1 2 1 2 3 3 1 2 1 2 3 2 3 1 10 1 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 2 1 1 2 3 2 3 1 2 3 1 3 1 2 1 2 3 11 1 2 3 3 1 2 2 3 1 1 2 3 1 1 2 2 3 1 1 2 3 3 1 2 2 3 1 12 1 2 3 3 1 2 2 3 1 2 3 1 1 2 3 3 1 2 3 1 2 2 3 1 1 2 3 13 1 2 3 3 1 2 2 3 1 3 1 2 2 3 1 1 2 3 2 3 1 1 2 3 3 1 2

Experiment no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Interaction

AB AC

AB AC

The selection of the orthogonal array is based on the total number of degrees of freedom of the cylindrical grinding process parameters. The degree of freedom is defined as the number of comparisons among the process parameters required to optimise them. In the present study, there are three cylindrical grinding process parameters each at three levels. When the interaction between process parameters is also considered then the total degree of freedom is 18. Once the degree of freedom is known, the next step is to select an appropriate orthogonal array. The degree of freedom for the orthogonal array should be greater than or at least equal to that of the process parameters and at the same time the orthogonal array should also accommodate three levels of each parameter as well as interactions between them. Therefore, an experimental layout using L27 orthogonal array (Table 3) was used for grinding of the IC engine valve stem.

Selection of optimal condition for finishing of centreless-cylindrical ground

2.3 Measurement of response variables

The response variables that were measured are stem diameteral deviation, stem out-of-roundness, and stem roughness. To measure absolute value of the parameters digital dial gauge, roundness tester and surface roughness tester were used. The details of response variables and the instruments along with their specifications used to measure them are given in Table 4. Roughness was measured in accordance with ISO 4287:1997 standard using a computer controlled surface roughness tester of Taylor and Hobson make. It was assessed over a standard sampling length as prescribe in the standard using the Ra value which is a measure of arithmetic average of the absolute vertical departures of the roughness profile from the centre line. The diametral deviation was measured using a standard work fixture and a dial gauge (Mitutoyo make). Out-of-roughness was measured in accordance with ISO 4287:1997 standard using computer controlled surface roughness tester of Taylor and Hobson make. The out-of-roundness was measured using computer compatible roundness of Taylor Hobson make by least square method in accordance with ANSI B89.3.1.
Table 4 S. no. 1 2 3 The details pertaining to the response variables and the instruments used to measure them Response variables Stem diameteral deviation Stem out-of-roundness Stem surface roughness Instruments Dial gauge with fixture Roundness tester Roughness tester Least count 0.001 mm 0.001 mm 0.01 Ra Make Mitutyo Taylor and Hobson Taylor and Hobson

Analysis method

3.1 Signal-to-noise ratio

Taguchi method provides effective solutions for parameter design and experimental planning (Ross, 1988). In this method, signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio is used to represent a performance characteristic and the largest value of S/N ratio is required. There are three types of S/N ratio the lower-the-better, the higher-the-better, and the nominal-the-better. The S/N ratio with a lower-the-better characteristic can be expressed as:

ij = 10 log

y n
j =1

2 ij

(1)

The S/N ratio with a higher-the-better characteristic can be expressed as:

ij = 10 log

n y
j =1

1 2 ij

(2)

The S/N ratio with a nominal-the-better characteristic can be expressed as:

Z.A. Khan et al.

ij = 10 log

1 ns

2 yij j =1
n

(3)

where yij is the ith experiment at the jth test, n is the total number of the tests, and s is the standard deviation

3.2 Data pre-processing

In grey relational analysis, the function of factors is neglected in situations where the range of the sequence is large or the standard value is enormous. However, this analysis might produce incorrect results, if the factors, goals and directions are different. Therefore, one has to pre-process the data which are related to a group of sequences, which is called grey relational generation (Chang and Lu, 2007). Data pre-processing is a process of transferring the original sequence to a comparable sequence. For this purpose, the experimental results are normalised in the range between zero and one. The normalisation can be done from three different approaches, the detailed procedure is described in Khan et al. (2010).

3.3 Grey relational coefficient and grey relational grade

Following data pre-processing, a grey relational coefficient is calculated to express the relationship between the ideal and actual normalised experimental results. In the grey relational analysis, the grey relational grade is used to show the relationship among the sequences. If the two sequences are identical, then the value of grey relational grade is equal to 1. The grey relational grade also indicates the degree of influence that the comparability sequence could exert over the reference sequence. Therefore, if a particular comparability sequence is more important than the other comparability sequences to the reference sequence, then the grey relational grade for that comparability sequence and reference sequence will be higher than other grey relational grades. The complete procedure for calculating grey relational coefficient and grey relational grade is discussed in Khan et al. (2010). In this study, the corresponding weighting values that are used to calculate grey relational grade are obtained from the principal component analysis which is discussed in the following section.

3.4 Principal component analysis

PCA approach explains the structure of variance-covariance by way of the linear combinations of each quality characteristic. The procedure involves formulation of the original multiple quality characteristic array, correlation coefficient array and subsequently determination of the eigenvalues, eigenvectors, principal component and weighting values of multi-performance characteristics. The procedure is described in Khan et al. (2010).

3.5 Analysis of variance (ANOVA)

The technique of ANOVA is used to establish the relative significance of the individual processing factors and the interaction between them. The ANOVA is based on the

Selection of optimal condition for finishing of centreless-cylindrical ground

variance (V), the degree of freedom (Dp), the sum of the squares (SS), and the percentage of contribution to the total variation (C) (Ma et al., 2007). The parameters that are used in ANOVA are calculated by the procedure described in Samant et al. (2008):

Analysis and discussion of experimental results

In the present study, diametral deviation, out-of-roundness, and roughness of the valve stem grinded for different combination of cylindrical grinding process parameters of 27 experimental runs (Table 3) are listed in Table 5. Typically, lower values of diametral deviation, out-of-roundness and roughness as the target values are desirable. Therefore, the data sequences have a the-lower-the-better characteristic. The following sequential steps were adopted to determine the optimal setting of the cylindrical grinding process parameters based on grey relational analysis coupled with principal analysis: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 S/N ratios for the experimental data were calculated the S/N ratios were normalised corresponding grey relational coefficients were calculated PCA was used and the grey relational grades were calculated the average grey relational grade for each centreless grinding parameter level was computed ANOVA was used confirmation test was conducted.

The S/N ratio for diametral deviation, out-of-roundness and roughness was calculated using equation (1) and the values are shown in Table 6. The S/N ratio values of diametral deviation, out-of-roundness and roughness are set to be the reference sequence x0 (k ), k = 1 3. Moreover, the results of 27 experiments were the comparability sequences xi (k ), i = 1, 2, 3., 27, k = 1 3. Table 7 lists all of the sequences following data pre-processing. Also the deviation sequences 0i, max(k) and min(k) for i = 1 27, k = 1 3 can be calculated as follows:
* 01 (1) = x 0 (1) x * (1) = 1.0000 0.000 = 1.000 1 * 01 (2) = x 0 (2) x * (2) = 1.0000 0.000 = 1.000 1 * 01 (3) = x 0 (3) x * (3) = 1.0000 0.871 = 0.129 1

So 01 = (1.000, 1.000, 0.129)

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Table 5

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The measured values of diametral deviation, surface roughness, and out of roundness of the valve stem Grinding speed, A (rev/min) 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 Grinding feed, B (mm/min) 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 Dressing feed, C (mm/min) 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 Diametral deviation (mm) 0.001 0.002 0.007 0.001 0.003 0.002 0.004 0.005 0.004 0.004 0.001 0.002 0.002 0.001 0.004 0.004 0.002 0.004 0.002 0.001 0.006 0.007 0.002 0.004 0.002 0.004 0.002 Out-ofroundness (mm) 0.001 0.002 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.003 0.004 0.004 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.002 0.004 0.003 0.003 0.003 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.003 Surface roughness (m) 0.34 0.35 0.36 0.28 0.24 0.26 0.18 0.18 0.16 0.33 0.38 0.35 0.28 0.26 0.28 0.18 0.16 0.18 0.36 0.38 0.34 0.28 0.26 0.26 0.18 0.20 0.18

Experiment no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

The results of all 0i for i = 1 27 are given in Table 8. Using Table 8, max and min can be found as follows:
max = 1.000, min = 0.000

Table 8 lists the grey relational coefficient for each experiment of the L27 orthogonal array.

Selection of optimal condition for finishing of centreless-cylindrical ground

Table 6

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The S/N ratio values of diametral deviation, surface roughness, and out of roundness of the valve stem Grinding speed, A (rev/min) 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 Grinding feed, B (mm/min) 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 Dressing feed, C (mm/min) 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 S/N ratio (dB) Diametral deviation 60.000 53.979 43.098 60.000 50.458 53.979 47.959 46.021 47.959 47.959 60.000 53.979 53.979 60.000 47.959 47.959 53.979 47.959 53.979 60.000 44.437 43.098 53.979 47.959 53.979 47.959 53.979 Out-ofroundness 60.000 53.979 60.000 53.979 50.458 50.458 47.959 47.959 50.458 60.000 60.000 60.000 53.979 50.458 53.979 47.959 50.458 50.458 50.458 60.000 60.000 60.000 60.000 53.979 53.979 53.979 50.458 Surface roughness 9.370 9.119 8.874 11.057 12.396 11.701 14.895 14.895 15.918 9.630 8.404 9.119 11.057 11.701 11.057 14.895 15.918 14.895 8.874 8.404 9.370 11.057 11.701 11.701 14.895 13.979 9.370

Experiment no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

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Table 7

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The sequences of each performances characteristic after data pre-processing Diametral deviation 1.000 0.000 0.356 1.000 0.000 0.565 0.356 0.712 0.827 0.712 0.712 0.000 0.356 0.356 0.000 0.712 0.712 0.356 0.712 0.356 0.000 0.921 1.000 0.356 0.712 0.356 0.712 0.356 Out-of-roundness 1.000 0.000 0.500 0.000 0.500 0.792 0.792 1.000 1.000 0.792 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.500 0.792 0.500 1.000 0.792 0.792 0.792 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.500 0.500 0.500 0.792 Surface roughness (m) 1.000 0.871 0.905 0.937 0.647 0.469 0.561 0.136 0.136 0.000 0.837 1.000 0.905 0.647 0.561 0.647 0.136 0.000 0.136 0.937 1.000 0.871 0.647 0.561 0.561 0.136 0.258 0.136

Experiment no. Reference sequence 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

PCA was used to determine the corresponding weighting values for each performance characteristic to reflect its relative importance in the grey relational analysis. The elements of the array for multiple performance characteristics listed in Table 9 represent the grey relational coefficient of each performance characteristic. These data were used to evaluate the correlation coefficient matrix, and to determine the corresponding eigenvalues. The eigenvalues are shown in Table 10. The eigenvector corresponding to each eigenvalue is listed in Table 11. The square of the eigenvalue matrix represents the contribution of the respective performance characteristic to the principal component. The contribution of diametral deviation, out-of-roundness, and roughness is shown in Table 12. These contributions are indicated as 0.174, 0.386, and 0.440. Moreover, the variance contribution for the first principal component characterising the three performance characteristics is as high as 60.12%. Hence, for this study, the squares of its

Selection of optimal condition for finishing of centreless-cylindrical ground

13

corresponding eigenvectors were selected as the weighting values of the related performance characteristic that were set as 0.174, 0.386, and 0.440, respectively. Applying theses weighting values to the diameteral deviation, out-of-roundness and roughness respectively on the data listed in Table 9, the grey relational grades were calculated as shown in Table 13. Thus, the optimisation design was performed with respect to a single grey relational grade rather than complicated performance characteristics.
Table 8 The deviation sequences 0i(1) 1.000 0.644 0.000 1.000 0.435 0.644 0.288 0.173 0.288 0.288 1.000 0.644 0.644 1.000 0.288 0.288 0.644 0.288 0.644 1.000 0.079 0.000 0.644 0.288 0.644 0.288 0.644 0i(2) 1.000 0.500 1.000 0.500 0.208 0.208 0.000 0.000 0.208 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.500 0.208 0.500 0.000 0.208 0.208 0.208 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.500 0.500 0.500 0.208 0i(3) 0.129 0.095 0.063 0.353 0.531 0.439 0.864 0.864 1.000 0.163 0.000 0.095 0.353 0.439 0.353 0.864 1.000 0.864 0.063 0.000 0.129 0.353 0.439 0.439 0.864 0.742 0.864

Deviation sequences Exp. no. 1 Exp. no. 2 Exp. no. 3 Exp. no. 4 Exp. no. 5 Exp. no. 6 Exp. no. 7 Exp. no. 8 Exp. no. 9 Exp. no. 10 Exp. no. 11 Exp. no. 12 Exp. no. 13 Exp. no. 14 Exp. no. 15 Exp. no. 16 Exp. no. 17 Exp. no. 18 Exp. no. 19 Exp. no. 20 Exp. no. 21 Exp. no. 22 Exp. no. 23 Exp. no. 24 Exp. no. 25 Exp. no. 26 Exp. no. 27

The response table of Taguchi method was employed to calculate the average grey relational grade for each centreless grinding parameter level. It was done by sorting the grey relational grades corresponding to levels of the centreless grinding parameter in each column of the orthogonal array, and taking an average on those with the same level. For instance, in the second column in the orthogonal array (as shown in Table 3) the No. 1,

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No. 2, No. 3, No. 10, No. 11, No. 12, No. 19, No. 20, and No. 21 were the experimental runs at which centreless grinding parameter A was set at level 1. The associated values of grey relational grade for A1 are those experimental runs grey relational grades. Therefore, their average is the average grey relational grade for A1:
A1 = (0.616 + 0.347 + 0.413 + 0.508 + 0.560 + 0.540 + 0.220 + 0.560 + 0.456) / 9 = 0.469
Table 9 Exp. no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 The calculated grey relational coefficient for 27 comparability sequences. Grey relational coefficient Diametral deviation 1.000 0.584 0.333 1.000 0.470 0.584 0.412 0.377 0.412 0.412 1.000 0.584 0.584 1.000 0.412 0.412 0.584 0.412 0.584 1.000 0.352 0.333 0.584 0.412 0.584 0.412 0.584 Out-of-roundness 1.000 0.500 1.000 0.500 0.387 0.387 0.333 0.333 0.387 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.500 0.387 0.500 0.333 0.387 0.387 0.387 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.500 0.500 0.500 0.387 Surface roughness 0.365 0.356 0.348 0.436 0.516 0.471 0.786 0.786 1.000 0.374 0.333 0.356 0.436 0.471 0.436 0.786 1.000 0.786 0.348 0.333 0.365 0.436 0.471 0.471 0.786 0.660 0.786

Similarly, the average grey relational grade for A2 and A3 are calculated as follows:
A2 = (0.522 + 0.390 + 0.385 + 0.460 + 0.447 + 0.398 + 0.541 + 0.691 + 0.436) / 9 = 0.475

Selection of optimal condition for finishing of centreless-cylindrical ground

A3 = (0.430 + 0.411 + 0.570 + 0.430 + 0.632 + 0.510 + 0.685 + 0.570 + 0.572) / 9 = 0.535
Table 10 The Eigenvalues and explained variation for principal components Eigenvalue 1.804 0.852 0.344 The eigenvectors for principal components Eigenvector Quality characteristic Diametral deviation Out-of-roundness Surface roughness Table 12 First principal component 0.4170 0.6210 0.6636 Second principal component 0.8899 0.4274 0.1591 Third principal component 0.1849 0.6569 0.7309 Explained variation (%) 60.12 28.39 11.48

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Principal component First Second Third Table 11

The contribution of each individual quality characteristic for the principal component Contribution 0.174 0.386 0.440

Quality characteristic Diametral deviation Out-of-roundness Surface roughness

Using the same method, calculations were performed for each centreless grinding parameter level and the response table was constructed as shown in Table 14. When the last column of Table 14 was compared, it is observed that the difference between the maximum and minimum value of the grey relational grade for factor A is biggest followed by factors C, and B. This indicates that the grinding speed has stronger effect on the multi-performance characteristics followed by dressing feed and grinding feed. Since the grey relational grades represented the level of correlation between the reference and the comparability sequences, the larger grey relational grade means the comparability sequence exhibits a stronger correlation with the reference sequence. Therefore, the comparability sequence has a larger value of grey relational grade for the diametral deviation, out-of-roundness and roughness. Based on this premise, this study selects the level that provides the largest average response. In Table 14, A3, B2, and C1 show the largest value of grey relational grade for factors A, B, and C, respectively. Therefore, A3B2C1 is the condition for the optimal parameter combination of the centreless grinding. Restated, grinding speed is 3500 m/min, grinding feed is 3 mm/min and dressing feed is 100 mm/min. The influence of each centreless grinding parameter can be more clearly presented by means of the grey relational grade graph. The grey relational grade graph shows the change in the response, when the factors go for their level 1 to level 3. The response graph for the centreless grinding parameters is presented in Figure 3. In this figure, the greater values give the close diametral deviations, lower roughness and out-of-roundness, and dashed line indicates the value of the total mean of the grey relational grade.

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Table 13 No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Z.A. Khan et al.

Grey relational grade and its order Grey relational grade 0.616 0.347 0.413 0.522 0.390 0.385 0.430 0.411 0.570 0.508 0.560 0.540 0.460 0.447 0.398 0.430 0.632 0.510 0.220 0.560 0.456 0.541 0.691 0.436 0.685 0.570 0.572 Order 4 26 21 12 24 25 19 22 6 14 8 11 15 17 23 20 3 13 27 9 16 10 1 18 2 7 5

The results of ANOVA for optimising multi-performance characteristics of centreless grinding process are shown in Table 15. The contribution of the main factors and the interaction between factors are shown in the last column of Table 15. The table reveals that the interaction between grinding speed and dressing feed plays a leading role in affecting the multi-performance characteristics (39.17% contribution). The dressing feed (12.71% contribution) governs the multi-performance characteristics significantly. Table 15 also indicates the contribution of each of the other parameters and interaction between them towards multi-performance characteristics. After obtaining the optimal level of the centreless-cylindrical grinding parameters, the next step is to verify the improvement of the performance characteristics using this optimal combination. Table 16 compares the results of the confirmation experiments using the optimal centreless-cylindrical grinding parameters (A3, B2, C1) obtained by the proposed method and with those of the initial centreless-cylindrical grinding parameters

Selection of optimal condition for finishing of centreless-cylindrical ground

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(A2, B2, C2). As shown in Table 16, diametral deviation decreases from 0.003 mm to 0.002 mm; out-of-roundness decreases from 0.003 mm to 0.002 mm and roughness decreases from 0.24 m to 0.20 m. Consequently, these confirmation tests reveal that the proposed algorithm for solving the optimal combinations of the centreless-cylindrical grinding parameters in this work improves diametral deviation, out-of-roundness and roughness of EN52 engine valve stem.
Figure 3 Average grey relational grade graph (see online version for colours)

Table 14 Symbol A B C AB AC BC Table 15 Parameters

Response table for the grey relational grade Parameters Grinding speed Grinding feed Dressing feed Level 1 0.469 0.490 0.537 0.464 0.509 0.454 Results of ANOVA Symbol A B C AB AC BC Degrees of freedom (Dp) 2 2 2 4 4 4 Sum of Variance square (SS) (V) 0.0240 0.0059 0.0381 0.0125 0.1174 0.0236 0.0120 0.0030 0.0191 0.0031 0.0294 0.0059 Percentage contribution (C%) 8.01 1.97 12.71 4.18 39.17 7.88 Level 2 0.475 0.512 0.446 0.516 0.534 0.498 Level 3 0.535 0.476 0.495 0.498 0.443 0.526 Max-Min 0.066 0.036 0.092 0.052 0.091 0.072

Grinding speed Grinding feed Dressing feed Interaction between grinding speed and grinding feed Interaction between grinding speed and dressing feed Interaction between grinding feed and dressing feed

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Table 16

Z.A. Khan et al.

Comparison between initial level and optimal level Optimal combination Diametral Deviation (mm) 0.003 0.002 0.001 Out-of-roundness (mm) 0.003 0.002 0.04 Surface roughness (m) 0.24 0.20

Initial design Optimal design Gain over initial design

A2B2C2 A3B2C1 0.001

Discussion

Centreless-cylindrical grinding is a complex finishing process for producing precision components. It is marked with high degree of workpiece variation which is difficult to quantify. The expected increase of workpiece-variation leads to smaller batch sizes which results in higher grinding setup time. For a centreless-cylindrical grinding operation with a proper setup configuration, the quality parameters such as diametral deviation, out-of-roundness, and roughness are considerably affected by grinding speed, grinding feed and dressing feed. In the present study, the optimum setting was obtained as A3, B2, C1, i.e., the grinding speed at level 3 (3,500 m/min.), grinding feed at level 2 (3.0 mm/min.) and the dressing feed at level 1 (100 mm/min). At low work-speeds, the probability of thermal damage to the workpiece is high. Low grinding speed causes more roundness errors partly because at low speed the workpiece does not get sufficient number of revolutions to reduce out-of-roundness. Increasing the grinding speed causes the work roundness to be achieved faster. Increase in the grinding feed considerably increases the grinding forces and affects the roundness, roughness and size deviation. Material removal rate also increases with the grinding feed and as the grinding feed is increased, material removed per grit also increases. This is because the equivalent chip thickness partly depends on the grinding feed. Increased chip thickness leads to higher stresses on the grinding grits causing greater wear and fracture. Consequently, the grit fracture process results in higher roughness and faster wheel wear. Increasing the grinding feed, with other parameters constant, tends to increase grinding forces, increase roughness, reduce redress life, and reduce specific energy. Too low dressing feed causes burning damage to the workpiece. Roughness also depends primarily on the dressing condition. Dressing at higher rate increases the roughness of the grinding wheel leading to higher workpiece roughness. The results of the present study appear to be in agreement with the above discussions. Thus, the grinding speed at level 3, grinding feed at level 2 and the dressing feed at level 1 is expected to yield optimum multi-performance characteristics as observed in the present study.

Selection of optimal condition for finishing of centreless-cylindrical ground

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Conclusions

Use of grey relational analysis coupled with principal component analysis to optimise the centreless grinding process with the multi-performance characteristics has been reported in this paper. A grey relational analysis combined with principal component analysis can convert optimisation of the multi-performance characteristics into optimisation of a single performance characteristic called the grey relational grade. As a result, optimisation of complicated multi-performance characteristics can be greatly simplified through this approach. Thus, the solutions from this method can be used by engineers who are willing to search for an optimal solution of centreless grinding process. In the present study diametral deviation, out-of-roundness and roughness of the valve stem has been considered to be the multi-performance characteristics of the centreless grinding process. It is found that the optimal combination of the centreless grinding parameters obtained from the proposed method is the set with A3, B2, and C1, i.e., grinding speed at 3,500 m/min., grinding feed at 3 mm/min. and dressing feed at 100 mm/min. It is also found that the interaction between grinding speed and dressing feed plays a leading role in affecting the multi-performance characteristics (39.17% contribution). The dressing feed (12.71% contribution) governs the multi-performance characteristics significantly.

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