LAUSR

Metal Matrix Composites (MMC) show improved properties in comparison with non-reinforced alloys and have found increased application in automotive and aerospace industries. The selection of optimum machining parameters to produce components of desired surface roughness is of great concern considering the quality and economy of manufacturing process. In this study, a surface roughness prediction model for turning Al-SiCp MMC is developed using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Three turning parameters viz., spindle speed (N), feed rate (f) and depth of cut (d) were considered as input neurons and surface roughness was an output neuron. ANN architecture having 3–5–1 is found to be optimum and the model predicts with an average percentage error of 7.72 %. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique is used for optimizing parameters to minimize machining time. The innovative aspect of this work is the development of an integrated ANN–PSO optimization method for intelligent control of MMC machining process applicable to manufacturing industries. The robustness of the method shows its superiority for obtaining optimum cutting parameters satisfying desired surface roughness. The method has better convergent capability with minimum number of iterations.