Modeling of an expert system for an electric

muffle furnace for simple heat treatment

processes
Natraj Mishra1, Parameshwar Sathyanarayan2
1
ITM University, Sector- 23A HUDA, Gurgaon- 122017, Haryana, India
2
Global Academy of Technology, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
1
Email: natrajmishra@gmail.com

Abstract- This article describes the modeling of an expert

system for an electric muffle furnace for controlling the
simple heat treatment processes like annealing and
normalizing in case of plain carbon steels. The heat
treatment process consists of three stages viz. heating,
soaking and cooling. This paper deals with the heating
stage i.e., it gives a method to design an expert system that
sets up the required heating temperature for a given plain
carbon steel. For this purpose, an expert system was
created having a knowledge base containing information
regarding carbon percentage, hardness and austenitizing
temperature (temperature at which the iron, iron-based
metal, or steel changes crystal structure from ferrite to
austenite). The expert system was given two inputs viz.
Carbon percentage and required Brinell Hardness
Number on the basis of which temperature set point was
set for the muffle furnace using fuzzy logic. The
simulation of this expert system was done on MATLAB/
SIMULINK. The results obtained after simulation were
compared with the standard results available in a
standard design data book. The two results were found to
be in good agreement with each other. It was found that
the expert system decided the correct values of
temperature set point for different types of annealing
processes for plain carbon steels.
B. The Expert System
Expert system is a computer program using expert
knowledge to attain high levels of performance in a
narrow problem area [3]. It provides powerful tools to
deal with complex real-world systems and to aid in the
transfer of knowledge to engineering practice [4]. It
consists of a knowledge base which has information
about variation of mechanical (BHN) and physical and
chemical properties (T, % C) with respect to each other
for plain carbon steels. In case of annealing, the user
gives two inputs viz. %C and BHN. The output is
summing temperature which is used to find out Td for
the given steel for the muffle furnace. It is based upon a
fuzzy inference system (FIS).
II. MODELLING OF THE EXPERT SYSTEM
The expert system takes two inputs viz. %C and
required BHN and provides one output i.e. Td.

Keywords: expert system, electric muffle furnace, plain

carbon steels, annealing processes, SIMULINK

Abbreviations:
Td = desired furnace temperature/ temperature set-point
T = temperature
BHN = Brinell Hardness Number
%C = percentage Carbon
FIS = Fuzzy Inference System
KB = Knowledge Base
sumtemp = summing temperature
I. INTRODUCTION
The work presented in this paper is the outcome of
Master Degree thesis of the first author, titled- Design
of an Expert System for an Electric Muffle Furnace [1].
An attempt has been made to develop an intelligent
database system containing various physical properties
of materials. This database is essential for computer
simulation [2] of simple heat treatment processes for
plain carbon steels.
A. Aim
The aim is to design an expert system for an electric
muffle furnace for optimizing and controlling the
simple heat treatment processes like annealing and
normalizing in case of plain carbon steels.
Fig. 1: The expert system
Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the expert system
which is a two input and single output system. The user
has to provide the values of carbon percentage (%C)
within the given steel and the hardness to be attributed
to the steel after heat treatment (required BHN). Based
upon these two inputs, the expert system gives the value
of desired furnace temperature (Td) to which the interior
of the muffle furnace has to be raised to. According to
Linkens and Chen [5], the main tasks of developing an
expert control system can be grouped into three parts-
model building of the process, construction of an expert
controller and establishment of a user-friendly
interface. In the present case, the development of the
expert using MATLAB/ SIMULINK was accomplished
in three stages- creation of knowledge base, generation
of rule base and generation of membership functions
using Mamdani type FIS. The user friendly interface is
provided by the MATLAB.

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 A. Creation of Knowledge Base Table 1: Heat treatment datasheet for annealing

The KB includes all the information pertaining to the Heat treatment Heated up to % Carbon range
relationship between carbon percentage and type (degree
austenitizing temperature. Figure 2 shows this Celsius)
relationship.
Spheroidizing 700 0.60 to 1.60

Process annealing 550 to 650/ 0.00 to 0.30

700

Full annealing 30 + A3/ A1 Hypoeutectoid (<

0.77 %)

Normalizing 55 + A3/ Acm ≥ 0.4 %

B. Generation of Rule Base

Fig. 2: Graph showing variation of upper critical temperatures (A3
and Acm) with carbon percentage
In figure 2, we can see two curves- A3 and Acm. Curve
A3 corresponds to the austenitizing temperature for
hypoeutectoid steels (having < 0.77 % C) while curve
Acm corresponds to the austenitizing temperature for
hypereutectoid steels (having > 0.77 % C). The graph is
obtained by taking reference from Askeland and Phule
[6]. The KB is also created using information regarding
various heat treatment processes suitable for a given
plain carbon steel. Figure 3 shows the austenitizing
temperatures for different heat treatment processes for
plain carbon steels.
The rule base is generated using information provided
in a standard design data book [8]. A rule-based expert
system contains information obtained from a human
expert, and represents that information in the form of
rules, such as IF-THEN [9]. It is generated for FIS
having two inputs and single output. The rule base is as
follows:
ƒ If BHN is softest and %C is low then sumtemp
is process anneal.
ƒ If BHN is softest and %C is not low then
sumtemp is spheroidize.
ƒ If BHN is softer and %C is low then sumtemp
is process anneal.
ƒ If BHN is softer and %C is not low then
sumtemp is full anneal.
ƒ If BHN is soft and %C is low then sumtemp is
full anneal.
ƒ If BHN is soft and %C is not low then
sumtemp is normalize.

C. Generation of Membership Function

Membership functions characterize the fuzziness in a
fuzzy set- whether the elements in the set are discrete or
continuous- in a graphical form for eventual use in the
mathematical formulisms of fuzzy set theory [10]. The
FIS has two inputs and one output. Table 2 shows the
membership function ranges for input variables and
output variables. The membership functions are made
using Mamdani approach.
Fig. 3: Summary of heat treatments for steels [7].
From figure 3, it can be seen that spheroidizing is
carried out between 700 deg. C and A1 (727 deg. C)
curve for steels having carbon percentage greater than
0.6 %. Similar observations can be obtained for process
annealing, full annealing and normalizing. Table 1
provides the heat treatment datasheet for annealing [6],
[8].

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 Table 2: Table showing membership function ranges for the input and output variables of expert system

Variable Membership Parameters

Function
(Trapezoidal)
Required BHN Softest -150, (100, 150,
(Input) 200)
Softer (150, 200, 250,
300)
Soft (250, 300, 350,
400)
Percent Low (0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.4)
Carbon
(Input) Medium (0.3, 0.45, 0.65,
0.8)
High (0.7, 0.85, 1.2),
1.6
Summing Process anneal (-200, -180, -
temperature 100, -50)
(ºC) (Output) Spheroidize (-100, -80, -20,
0)
Full anneal (0, 10, 45, 55)
Normalize (45, 55, 65), 75

III. MODELLING IN MATLAB/ SIMULINK

First input- required BHN has three membership
functions- softest (100 BHN to 200 BHN), softer (150 Figure 4 shows the SIMULINK model of the expert
BHN to 300 BHN) and soft (250 BHN to 400 BHN). system. The simulation work was carried out in
The second input- %C has also three membership MATLAB 2007b. The expert system is governed by a
functions- low (0 to 0.4 % carbon), medium (0.3 to 0.8 set of rules that are collected from the design data book
% carbon) and high (0.7 to 1.2 % carbon). The output, and other references. It makes use of Mamdani type FIS
summing temperature has four membership functions- and takes decision regarding the desired furnace
process anneal (-200ºC to -50 ºC), spheroidize (-100ºC temperature.
to 0ºC), full anneal (0ºC to 55 ºC) and normalize (45ºC
to 65ºC). This output is added to the austenitizing
temperature of the given steel (refer Fig. 2) to give the
desired furnace temperature.

250

Required BHN
BHN

s um tem p

%C Desired furnace temperature , Td

Membership Function & Rule Base

0.6
Austenitizing Temperature (A1/ Acm )
Percent Carbon

%C A1/ Acm

Knowledge Base

Fig. 4: SIMULINK model of the expert system.

From figure 4, it can be observed that the input- percent
carbon is fed into two blocks viz. membership function
& rule base block and knowledge base block. The first
block has another input- required BHN. It gives the
output- sumtemp. The second block gives austenitizing
temperature as the output based upon the carbon
content of the plain carbon steel. The two outputs-
sumtemp and austenitizing temperature are added
together to give the final output i.e., the desired furnace
temperature (Td). In figure 5, the internal structure of
the membership function & rule base block has been
shown.

3
 1
BHN
1
sumtemp
Mamdani Fuzzy Inference System
2
%C
Fig. 5: Internal structure of the membership function & rule base block (SIMULINK model).

A. Generation of Membership Functions in

MATLAB
Figure 6 shows the FIS block for finding the summing
temperature which is further used to find out the desired
temperature.

Fig. 6: Fuzzy logic block to find out the summing temperature.

The two leftmost blocks are for the input variables- 1) Membership Functions for Input 1 (Required
required BHN and %C while the rightmost block is for BHN)
the output variable- summing temperature. The central
block contains the rule base. Figure 7 shows the membership functions for input 1
i.e. required BHN.

Fig. 7: Membership functions for Brinell Hardness Number (input 1).

Figure 7 shows that three membership functions- 2) Membership Functions for Input 2 (% C)
softest, softer and soft are used for input 1. These
correspond to the hardness which a particular steel Figure 8 shows the membership functions for input 2
grade is required to acquire after the completion of i.e. %C.
annealing.

4
Fig. 8: Membership functions for percentage carbon (input 2).
Figure 8 shows that there are three membership
functions- low, medium and high for input 2. These
correspond to various types of plain carbon steel based
upon their chemical composition (carbon percentage).
Fig. 9: Membership functions for summing temperature (output).
Figure 9 shows that there are four membership
functions- process anneal, spheroidize, full anneal and
normalize for the output. These correspond to the four
types of annealing processes which are to be performed
for the given steel. The output is added to the
austenitizing temperature obtained from figure 2. The
final output is thus, the desired furnace temperature, Td.
IV. RESULTS & D ISCUSSIONS
Suppose that there is a requirement of heat treating a
steel having 0.6% carbon and after heat treatment the
steel should acquire a BHN of 120. Now for such a case
we find that, the steel is a medium carbon steel (refer
figure 8) and required hardness is softest (refer figure
7). After providing these two inputs to the expert
system, it gives the austenitizing temperature as 700
deg.C. The expert system does it in the following
manner. For the required BHN of 120 (softest) and %C
as 0.6 (medium), the sumtemp (refer figure 9) is
approximately -50 deg. C. The sumtemp value proposes
that the given steel has to be spheroidized. From figure
2 it can be found that the austenitizing temperature
corresponding to plain carbon steel having 0.6 %
carbon is around 750 deg. C. The desired temperature
would be Td = -50 + 750 = 700 deg. C. The annealing
3) Membership Functions for the Output
(sumtemp)
The membership functions of the output are shown in
figure 9.
process suitable for the present case is spheroidizing
(refer figure 3).
The performance of the expert system was evaluated by
testing the results obtained by its SIMULINK model
with the standard results for given set of inputs. Table
3 shows the comparison of results obtained by the
expert system with the standard values. It can also be
observed that full annealing of plain carbon steel having
a carbon percentage of 0.6 requires the standard heating
temperature of approximately 780ºC in order to acquire
a hardness value of 210 BHN. The expert system gives
the desired temperature as 778ºC approximately (refer
table 3). There is a difference of only 2ºC. Similarly, we
can find from table 3 that the values of Td set by the
expert system for different input conditions closely
match with the standard values of heating temperature.
Thus, we can say that, the designed expert system
works well for annealing of plain carbon steels.
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 Table 3: Table showing the comparison of results obtained by the expert system with the standard values

Heat treatment type Inputs Heated up to (t ºC)

Percent Brinell Standard As specified

Carbon Hardness value [3], by Expert
Number [4] System (Td)

Spheroidizing 0.6 120 700.12

0.9 120 700 750.2
Process Annealing 0.2 120 500 to 696.2
0.2 210 650/ 700 700.1
Full Annealing 0.6 210 780 777.6
0.9 210 830 827.7
0.2 350 860 855.4
Normalizing 0.6 350 805 808
0.9 350 855 858.1

IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper an attempt has been made to design an
expert system that can predict the austenitizing
temperature or heating temperature of plain carbon
steels for their heat treament, especially annealing. The
expert system is based upon Mamdani type fuzzy
inference system that uses 6 set of rules. The results
obtained from the expert system were compared with
the standard results provided in the design data book for
the given set of inputs. It was found that the expert
system decided the correct values of temperature set
point for different types of annealing processes for plain
carbon steels. The proposed modeling approach can
further be improved to predict the mechanical
properties (tensile strength, ductility, hardness, etc.) by
correlating them with the heat treatment process
conditions as well as chemical compositions using
complex, high-dimensional industrial data [11].
[5] D.A. Linkens, Minyou Chen, “Expert Control Systems- 2. Design
Principles and Methods”, Engng Applic. Artif. Intell. Vol. 8, No. 5,
1995, pp. 527-537
[6] Donald R. Askeland and Pradeep P. Phule, “Essentials of
Materials Science and Engineering”, Cengage Learning India Private
Limited, 2004, pp. 378-395
[7] www.efunda.com/process/heat_treat/softening/annealing.cfm,
January 13, 2012
[8] “Design Data”, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore,
Publisher- Kalaikathir Achchagam, 2007, pp. 2.1-2.3
[9] Shu- Hsien Liao, “Expert system methodologies and applications-
a decade review from 1995 to 2004”, Expert Systems with
Applications 28 (2005), pp. 93- 103
[10] Timothy J. Ross, “Fuzzy Logic with Engineering Applications”,
John Wiley & Sons, Second Edition, 2010, pp. 178- 208
[11] Qian Zhang, Mahdi Mahfouf, “A hierarchical Mamdani- type
fuzzy modeling approach with new training data selection and multi-
objective optimization mechanisms: A special application for the
prediction of mechanical properties of alloy steels”, Applied Soft
Computing 11(2011), pp. 2419- 2443

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We are grateful to Mr. N. Kumaraswamy (JRF, ITM
University) and Mr. L.N. Joshi (Technical Assistant,
PG and Mechatronics Lab., ITM University) in helping
us complete this work.

REFERENCES
[1] Natraj Mishra, M.Tech. Dissertation- “Design of an Expert
System for an Electric Muffle Furnace”, ITM University, Gurgaon,
Haryana, India
[2] GU Qiang, ZHONG Rui, JU Dong-ying, “Development of
materials database systemfor cae system of heat treatment based on
data mining technology”, Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China
16(2006), s572- s576
[3] J.-S. R. Jang, C.-T. Sun, E. Mizutani, “Neuro-Fuzzy and Soft
Computing- A Computational Approach to Learning and Machine
Intelligence”, Pearson Education, Inc., 2008, pp. 27- 35
[4] D.A. Linkens, Minyou Chen, “Expert Control Systems- 1.
Concepts, Characteristics and Issues”, Engng Applic. Artif. Intell.
Vol. 8, No. 4, 1995, pp. 413-421