Journal Press India^®

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The purpose of this investigation is to develop a mathematical model for predicting the influence of casting parameters on hardness of non ferrous alloy (NFA) castings produces using Zcast process by employing response surface methodology (RSM). An association has been proposed between hardness of castings and shell wall thickness (SWT), weight density (WD) and pouring temperature (PT) of the shell mould fabricated using three dimensional printer (3DP). The experiments were conducted using NFA materials like; aluminium, zinc, lead, copper, brass and bronze. An effective procedure of RSM has been utilized for the optimal values of casting parameters. Mechanical Micro-Vickers hardness was measured in which the indent is produced by applying a known load to the specimen and then measuring the size of the appropriate diagonals optically. Based on experimental data the investigation has led to conclusion as Quadratic model have been established for predicting the response in the form of hardness of castings.Further, the model developed was validated by analysis of variance (ANOVA) which indicated the significance of model. The Model F-value of 2477.66 implies that the model is significant. There is only a 0.01% chance that a Model F-Value could occur due to noise. Values of "Prob > F" less than 0.05 indicate model terms are significant. The statistical analysis of second order quadratic equation results showed that the most significant parameters, favoring the hardness are B, C and A2. The superiority of the quadratic mathematical models were developed in confidence intervals of 99.75% with prediction error sum of squares of 3.6%for the prediction of the harness. Microstructure analysis was also performed for justification of hardness data.

Keywords

Hardness; Structure; Mathematical Modeling; Three Dimensional Printing; Response Surface Method

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