Author(s)

Olawale Samuel Fatoba^1*, Olaitan Lukman Akanji¹, Abiodun Samson Aasa²

¹Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa.
²Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.

The utilization of carburizing materials in surface engineering has undergone many tremendous changes. Effective quality control is possible through carburizing the steel components under op-timal conditions. In this research work, process parameters like furnace temperature, soaking time and particle size of energizer were taken for optimization of carburized UNS-G10170 steel to yield maximum hardness using Taguchi’s design of experiment concepts and Response Surface Model. Nine experimental runs based on Taguchi’s L₉ orthogonal array were performed; signal to noise (S/N) ratios, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis were used with hardness as response variable. From the optimization and experimental analyses conducted, it was observed that furnace temperature, soaking time and particle size had significant influence in obtaining a better surface integrity. The optimal values obtained during the study optimization by Taguchi approach and Response Surface Model (RSM) were validated by confirmation experiments.

ANOVA, S/N Ratios, Taguchi Method, Hardness, RSM, Optimization

Fatoba, O. , Akanji, O. and Aasa, A. (2014) Optimization of Carburized UNS G10170 Steel Process Parameters Using Taguchi Approach and Response Surface Model (RSM). Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, 2, 566-578. doi: 10.4236/jmmce.2014.26058.