Experimental Investigation of Material Removal Rate and Surface Roughness in Turning of EN9 Alloy steel using Taguchi Method

Abstract

High productivity is the basic need of any manufacturing industry nowadays because of high
quality product demand and cost efficiency. Turning is the basic operation in manufacturing
and to optimize the process, the output parameters like material removal rate that is to be
maximized and surface finish which is to be minimized, must be assessed at close look. The
study shows the effect of input parameters (cutting speed, depth of cut and feed rate) on the
parameters of the turning process. Three levels of each parameter are selected within the
operating range and the experimental runs are performed according to Taguchi’s L-27
orthogonal array. The turning of EN9 specimen is carried out on CNC lathe. The material
removal rate is found out by weight difference method and surface roughness is measured by
301 Mitutoyo surface roughness meter. After plotting the main effect charts and analyzing
with ANOVA, it is found out that MRR is affected most by depth of cut and then feed rate. On
the other hand, surface roughness is most affected by feed rate and then depth of cut. Cutting
speed has statistically negligible effect on both the parameters. The study suggests optimum
range of parameters that would give an efficient turning process.