On the Hardfacing Performance Optimization after Plasma Transfer Arc Experiments

The paper describes response surface methodology (RSM) based on design of experiments and analysis of variance (ANOVA) as a statistical design while developing a robust plasma transfer arc (PTA)coating process. Based on ANOVA, The relative important parameters with respect to surface at hardness values were identified in the Taguchi design, where they were further used in predictors. In addition, we applied three-dimensional graphs in RSM to develop a robust PTA response surface yielding the desired-better area of a treated layer. In this study, a quadratic polynomial with a Box-Behnken design is utilized. The results reveal that RSM provides the effective methods as compared to the traditional trial-and-error method for exploring the effects of controlled factors on response. A very good agreement was observed, as evidenced by R-squared value, 90%, between the predicted and the experimental data, and its error percent is found to be approximately 3.801% in the PTA-coating process. It is clear that RSM model demonstrated better accuracy in predicting surface hardness for PTA-coating process. Accordingly, RSM based on design of experiments was used as statistical PTA-coating design tools combined with the hardness model. Device zone optimization and yield enhancement have been demonstrated.