Experimental Design and Performance Analysis in Plasma Arc Surface Hardening

Authors: M.I.S. Ismail, Z. Taha

Abstract:

In this paper, the experimental design of using the Taguchi method is employed to optimize the processing parameters in the plasma arc surface hardening process. The processing parameters evaluated are arc current, scanning velocity and carbon content of steel. In addition, other significant effects such as the relation between processing parameters are also investigated. An orthogonal array, signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are employed to investigate the effects of these processing parameters. Through this study, not only the hardened depth increased and surface roughness improved, but also the parameters that significantly affect the hardening performance are identified. Experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of this approach.

Keywords: Plasma arc, hardened depth, surface roughness, Taguchi method, optimization.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1327496

References:

[1] V.S. Kraposhin, A.V. Bobrov, and O.S. Gaponenko, "Surface hardening of 9KhF steel by heating with a plasma gun," Metal Science and Heat Treatment, vol. 31, no. 11, pp. 816-821, 1989.
[2] J. Ruiz, V. Lopez, and B.J. Fernandez, "Effect of surface laser treatment on the microstructure and wear behaviour of grey iron," Materials and Design, vol. 17, no. 5/6, pp. 267-273, 1996.
[3] J.S. Selvan, K. Subramaniam, and A.K. Nath, "Effect of laser surface hardening on En18 (AISI 5135) steel," Journal of Material Processing Technology, vol. 91, pp. 29-36, 1999.
[4] J.R. Hwang, and C.P. Fung, "Effect of electron beam surface hardening on fatigue crack growth rate in AISI 4340 steel," Surface and Coatings Technology, vol. 80, pp. 271-278, 1996.
[5] R.G. Song, K. Zhang, and G.N. Chen, "Electron beam surface treatment. Part I: Surface hardening of AISI D3 tool steel," Vacuum, vol. 69, pp. 513-516, 2003.
[6] E. Bourithis, A. Tazedakis, and G. Papadimitriou, "A study on the surface treatment of Calmax tool steel by a plasma transferred arc (PTA) process," Journal of Material Processing Technology, vol. 128, pp. 169-177, 2002.
[7] W. Luo, "The corrosion resistance of 0Cr19Ni9 stainless steel arc welding jonts with and without arc surface melting," Materials Science and Engineering A, vol. 345, pp. 1-7, 2003.
[8] J. Wang, K. Kusumoto, and K. Nezu, "Plasma arc cutting torch tracking control," Science and Technology of Welding and Joining, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 154-158, 2001.
[9] C.X. Pan, Y.W. Chen, and A.T. Male, "Microstructural development in plasma jet forming of sheet steels," Materials Science and Technology, vol. 18, pp. 1151-1155, 2002.
[10] P.K. Chu, J.Y. Chen, L.P. Wang, and N. Huang, "Plasma surface modification of biomaterials," Materials Science and Engineering, vol. 36, pp. 143-206, 2002.
[11] V.A. Linnik, A.K. Onegina, A.I. Andrev, K.K. Aldarkin, V.M. Sinaiskii, and L.P. Grigorenko, "Surface hardening of steel by plasma hardening," Metalloyed Term Obrab Met., vol. 4, pp. 2-5, 1983.
[12] Z. Nitkiewicz, and L. Jeiorski, "Plasma heat treatment of steel: Microstructures, properties and applications," Materials Science and Engineering, vol. A140, pp. 474-478, 1991.
[13] S.S. Samotugin, "Plasma treatment of tool steels," Welding International, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 225-228, 1998.
[14] M. Yan, W.Z. Zhu, W. Luo, X.B. Zhang, B.C. Zhou, and X.B. Zhao, "Effect of plasma arc scanning on the wear resistance of gray iron," Materials Letters, vol. 56, pp. 14-18, 2002.
[15] W.X. Pan, X. Meng, G. Li, Q.X. Fei, and C.K. Wu, "Feasibility of laminar plasma jet hardening of cast iron surface," Surface and Coatings Technology, vol. 197, pp. 345-350, 2005.
[16] P.J. Ross, Taguchi Techniques for Quality Engineering. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.
[17] G. Taguchi, Introduction to Quality Engineering. Tokyo: Asian Productivity Organization, 1986.
[18] J. Kopac, M. Bahor, and M. Sokovic, "Optimal machining parameters for achieving the desired surface roughness in fine turning of cold pre-formed steel workpiece," International Journal of Machine Tool and Manufacture, vol. 42, pp. 707-716, 2002.
[19] S.H. Park, Robust Design and Analysis for Quality Engineering. London: Chapman and Hall, 1996.