Design of a piston forging process using a hybrid Taguchi method and multiple criteria decision-making

In the process of hot forging aluminum pistons, many factors must be considered. In this study, the goal to which was to design the process parameters of the piston in forging, material temperatures, friction coefficients, draft angle, and preform type were major control factors. To determine the optimization of multiple performances, considering forming load and die stress as affected by the control factors in the piston forging process, a hybrid of Multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) and the Taguchi method was employed. For the application of this hybrid method, a Multiple-objective performance index (MOPI) was used to solve the aluminum piston forging process with multiple performance characteristics. A finite element simulation analysis was conducted to investigate multiple performances. Through the application of the Taguchi method based on MOPI that can be referred to as the Signal to noise (SN) ratio, the relatively important influences of major factors are examined and the design parameters for the piston forging process are optimized. The results are presented in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.