Volume 8 Issue 2 ( June 2021 )

Pages_310-317

Optimization of Stiffness Properties of Composite Sandwich using Hybrid Taguchi-GRA-PCA

Anil Kumar, Arindam Kumar Chanda, Surjit Angra

[ABSTRACT]

The composite sandwich structures provide the benefits of higher Strength to weight ratio, higher stiffness and flexural strength. The different properties of a sandwich structure depend on various design factors such as material of core and facesheet, thickness of facesheet and core, type of core and panel shape etc. In this study, four different factors i.e. Material of Honeycomb core, Core Height, Facesheet Thickness and Panel Width, with each having three different values have been chosen and a L9 Orthogonal has been generated using Taguchi Design in Minitab 18. After that, 9 different samples have been fabricated as per configurations of L9 OA. Then three point bending test has been performed on these samples and the values of Bending Stiffness, Rigidity and Equivalent Stiffness has been calculated .Then Taguchi Analysis has been performed on the output responses and optimum design parameters have been detected. After that PCA assisted Grey Relation Analysis has been performed on output responses and the values of optimum design parameters for sandwich structure has been obtained.

Keywords: Optimization of Stiffness Properties; Kevlar® Honeycomb Core; Hybrid Taguchi–PCA-GRA; Computational Analysis of Composite Sandwich.