A comparative study of multiple-criteria decision-making methods for selecting the best process parameters for friction stir welded Al 6061 alloy

Abstract

The selection of welding process parameters is a difficult operation that proves the need for process evaluation. Several decision-making strategies have been presented for assessing friction stirring welding (FSW) process parameter selection difficulties considering the process up and down. It should be noted that few comparative studies have been conducted on the FSW problem without consideration of decision-making strategies. This article compares three multi-attribute decision-making strategies to select the parameters of the FSW process. The aim of this work applied different decision-making strategies TOPSIS, GRA, hybrid GRA-TOPSIS, COCOSO, and MACROS, using entropy for the calculated weight for all different decisionmaking. The proposed methods in this study are validated by representing the accurate decision maker's preferences and consideration of uncertainty. The decision-makers choose GRA-TOPSIS and TOPSIS as the best approach with higher efficiency. GRA was determined to be more time-consuming and to have the most variety of outcomes, whereas COCOSO and MACROS were unable to produce a definite best result.