Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2020) 42:116 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-020-2198-5 TECHNICAL PAPER Investigation of machinability criteria during micro‑abrasive fnishing of SUS‑304L steel using fuzzy combined with WASPAS approach Rahul Sharma 1  · Swastik Pradhan 1 Received: 20 November 2019 / Accepted: 23 January 2020 / Published online: 6 February 2020 © The Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering 2020 Abstract This article deals with the optimization of process parameters involving in the magnetic abrasive fnishing (MAF) process to achieve the optimum responses. In order to choose to the best decisive course of action, we have used the weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) method. This method is a multi-criteria decision-making process; here, it optimizes the six process parameters of the MAF process. The WASPAS is used to fnd the optimum parametric setting of the process parameter for the combined efect of the output responses, i.e., percentage improvement in surface fnish (PISF) and mate- rial removal rate (MRR) in terms of total relative importance index Q i . The process parameters are namely rotational speed, working gap, particle size of abrasive, quantity of abrasive, fnishing time and magnetic fux density, and responses are PISF and MRR. The analysis of variance is implemented not only to fnd out the percentage contribution of each of the process parameters but also to know the efect of interaction between any two process parameters. Finally, a regression equation is developed as per the backward propagation method and the predicted values are estimated from the equation. Those values are further compared with the experimental values. Keywords Taguchi method · Material removal rate · WASPAS method · SUS-304L stainless steel · Magnetic abrasive fnishing · Percentage improvement in surface fnish (PISF) 1 Introduction Fabrication of products concerns the manufacturing of struc- tures, the process of equipment and machines by doing dif- ferent processes like cutting, welding and then assembling of components of similar or dissimilar materials. Fabrica- tion can be categorized as: macro- and micro-fabrication. Macro-fabrication deals with the fabrication of structures, parts or products that are measurable and perceivable by unaided eye (≥ 1 mm in size), whereas micro-fabrication deals with or considers the miniature structures, parts or products that are not simply perceivable by the unaided eye and that are having dimensions smaller than 1 mm (1 m ≤ dimension ≤ 999 m). Ample of methods are avail- able in the literature to achieve micro-fabrication. However, material removal and material deposition methods are com- monly used by researchers. Micro-fabrication can be done by using some of the traditional material removal processes. However, some constraints are associated with them; there- fore, advanced material removal processes are frequently utilized for this purpose [1]. Magnetic abrasive polishing is a relatively new super-fnishing technique used primarily to obtain the nanometric level of surface fnish, especially on nonferrous and hard material like stainless steel and ceram- ics. It uses the extremely small magnitude of the controlled magnetic force on ferromagnetic corrosive particles which are a conglomerate of abrasives and iron particles for mate- rial removal. Usually, nano-ferromagnetic particles are sin- tered with the other nano-abrasive particles of material like Al 2 O 3 , SiC, CBN, or diamond, and then these particles are named as ferromagnetic abrasive particles. Thus, the tool in this process becomes virtually resilient. The process hence is safe from most of the ill-efects of conventional super- fnishing processes, which use hard grinding wheels that infict breaking, generating micro-cracks, and distortions on the work surfaces [2]. Technical Editor: Izabel Fernanda Machado, Dr. * Swastik Pradhan swastik.rock002@gmail.com 1 School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab 144411, India