OPTIMIZATION OF CASTING PARAMETERS USING TAGUCHI METHOD

Casting is a manufacturing process used in industries for mass production in which materials in molten state are poured in a mold cavity to solidify. A foundry's performance should be high in terms of production with minimum defects. Systematic analysis and identification of sources of defects are essential for successful manufacturing. Various casting parameters like moisture content, permeability, pouring temperature, green compressive strength, mold hardness number and clay percentage affect the casting quality. This paper discusses the influence of various casting parameters on the quality of casting. The prominent parameters (moisture percentage, green compressive strength, mold hardness number) were selected on the basis of comparative study of research papers. Weight percentage was selected as the response variable to obtain best results with minimum possible cost of experimentation. To optimize the selected parameters, Taguchi optimization technique was used by implementing L9 orthogonal array and optimum values of parameters were obtained by Minitab software analysis. The results show that weight percentage is minimal at certain levels and these were verified practically by implementing in foundry, which resulted in significant improvement in quality of casting.