IT support for optimisation of abrasive water cutting process using the TOPSIS method

Abstract

Modern production processes are becoming increasingly complex. At the same time, customers require high-quality products at the lowest price. This situation increases the importance of optimisation of production processes from the preparation of production to its implementation. Various methods of process optimisation have been devised to respond to the emerging phenomena including organisational aspects, device design, quality engineering and process automation. The TOPSIS method is used to make multi-criteria decisions. In this paper, a methodological study of this method was carried out, indicating conditions of applicability, assumptions and limitations, and the use of the TOPSIS method in the IT system supporting the optimisation of industrial processes on the example of waterjet cutting optimisation.

Research Progress in Abrasive Water Jet Processing Technology

“…It is also pointed out that the thickness of the processed material is the most significant and influential control factor on the surface roughness and material removal rate. Radomska-Zalas et al [ 92 ] investigated the abrasive water jet cutting of aluminum using IT-supported TOPSIS method, optimized the process parameters (transverse speed, pressure, and abrasive flow rate) with width of kerf and one of the surface roughness parameters (quality) as the optimization objective levels, and obtained the optimum combination of the process parameters, i.e., transverse speed of 0.75 mm/s, pressure of 250 MPa, abrasive flow rate of 1 g/s, width of kerf 0.75 mm, and surface roughness of 14.49 mm. Akhai et al [ 93 ] used Taguchi’s gray relational (TGRA) analysis method in the processing of Al-6061 aluminum alloy by abrasive water jets to optimize the process parameters, with surface roughness, material removal rate, and edge width as the target-level characteristics for the process parameters (travel speed, spacing distance, and abrasive mass flow) to be optimized and obtained the optimum combination of process parameters travel speed of 100 mm/min, spacing distance of 1 mm, and abrasive mass flow of 300 g/min, indicating that the material removal rate was inversely proportional to surface roughness and edge width.…”

Possibilities of Rock Processing with a High-Pressure Abrasive Waterjet with an Aspect Terms to Minimizing Energy Consumption

“…Some authors [ 47 ] present the results of studies of important rock properties affecting the recycling of abrasives in granite cutting. In contrast, others [ 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ] are conducting research on the disintegration of abrasive materials in waterjet processing. Although there has been tremendous recent progress in the development of new machinery, equipment and other technical devices that make waterjet processing more efficient, there is still a lack of comprehensive studies outlining its application to rock cutting.…”

Process Optimization by Applying the Response Surface Methodology (Rsm) to the Abrasive Suspension Water Jet Cutting of Phenolic Composites

“…where: y is dependent variable (response), xi is values of the i-th control parameter, k is number of control parameters, β0, βi, βii are the coefficients of regressions and ε is the error. The theory of DoE allows us to simplify the method of determining process parameters, such as in the case of using it to evaluate quality of cuts after cutting aluminum alloy by AWIJ [7], for optimization of abrasive water cutting process using the TOPSIS method [8],or even multi response optimization of process parameters based on the Taguchi-Fuzzy model for coal cutting by water jet technology [9] and multi response optimization on the AWIJ machining of Stainless Steel by the VIKOR approach coupled with S/N ratio methodology [10]. Due to different importance of the conflicting criterions, the multicriteria methods are extremely useful in the selection process of the proper machining type [11].…”