A study on the performance of some multi-response optimisation methods for WEDM processes

Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) processes are having several performance measures which are affected by different process parameters. In the recent past, researchers have attempted several systematic procedures for optimising the multiple responses of WEDM processes. However, most of these approaches use complex statistical/mathematical tools and are, therefore, impractical for application by the engineers who may not have a strong background in mathematics. Only a few methods, e.g., grey relational analysis and multiple response signal-to-noise ratio approaches use relatively simpler computational procedures. On the other hand, the computational procedures for the weighted signal-to-noise (WSN) ratio and VIKOR (VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje in Serbian) methods are also quite simpler and, therefore, can easily be implemented by the engineers. However, an engineer needs to select the method that can give the best optimisation performance for the process. In this paper, the computational requirements for these four multi-response optimisation methods are standardised. Two sets of experimental data on WEDM processes are analysed using these standardised multi-response optimisation methods, and their relative performances are then compared. The results show that no method can lead to better optimisation than the WSN ratio method.