CAM SHAFT MATERIAL SELECTION USING MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION ON THE BASIS OF RATIO ANALYSIS - (MOORA) METHOD

Material selection is one of the first and foremost steps taken during the design of any product. With the advent of a wide choice of materials, the design engineer is spoilt for choices, as he has got a wide array of choices. However, the selection of the right material is as vital as the manufacturing process itself. The selection of the right work piece material is vital, as it results in better product, while taking care of the cost optimisation. In the current research work, the multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA) is used. MOORA is used to solve multi-criteria (objective) optimization problem in material selection for cam shaft production. To begin with, a comprehensive list of materials is obtained from all prospective materials while taking into account multi-conflicting material selection attributes. The various influencing factors such as hardness, thermal conductivity, ultimate tensile strength etc. are taken into account. The assessment value of the alternatives with respect to all the criteria is calculated and compared for all the six materials chosen. The final ranking is done, based on the basis of the assessment values of the six alternatives. The final results indicate that the carburised steel is the best suited alternative for cam shaft material, while nitride steel comes a close second.