Design of an analytic-hierarchy-process-based expert system for non-traditional machining process selection

The selection of a non-traditional machining (NTM) process is often observed to be a multi-criteria decision-making problem with conflicting and diverse objectives. This paper presents a systematic methodology for selecting the best or optimal non-traditional machining process under constrained material and machining conditions. The paper also includes the design of an analytic-hierarchy-process-based expert system with a graphical user interface to ease the decision-making process. The developed expert system relies on the priority values for different criteria and sub-criteria, as related to a specific non-traditional machining process selection problem. It also depends on the logic table to discover the non-traditional machining processes that lie in the acceptability zone, and then selects the optimal process having the highest acceptability index value. The proposed expert system can automate the selection of a non-traditional machining process and provide artificial intelligence in the multi-criteria decision-making process.