See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/225562746

Grey relational analysis coupled with principal component analysis for

optimisation design of the process parameters in in-feed centreless
cylindrical grinding

Article  in  The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology · February 2010

DOI: 10.1007/s00170-009-2159-8

CITATIONS READS

108 4,706

3 authors:

Arshad Noor Siddiquee Zahid A Khan

Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Millia Islamia
258 PUBLICATIONS   2,974 CITATIONS    256 PUBLICATIONS   2,992 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Zulquernain Mallick
Jamia Millia Islamia
25 PUBLICATIONS   388 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

FSW of Thick plates and Unequal thickness View project

Friction stir welding of dissimilar aluminium alloys View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Arshad Noor Siddiquee on 19 May 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Int J Adv Manuf Technol
DOI 10.1007/s00170-009-2159-8

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Grey relational analysis coupled with principal component

analysis for optimisation design of the process parameters
in in-feed centreless cylindrical grinding
Arshad Noor Siddiquee & Zahid A. Khan &
Zulquernain Mallick

Received: 16 January 2009 / Accepted: 4 June 2009

# Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009

Abstract This paper investigates optimisation design of an Nomenclature

in-feed centreless cylindrical grinding process performed on yij The jth response of the ith experiment
EN52 austenitic valve steel (DIN: X45CrSi93). The major ηij The jth S/N ratio of the ith experiment
performance characteristics selected to evaluate the process xij Normalised S/N ratio for the ith performance
are surface roughness, out of cylindricity of the valve stem characteristic in the jth experiment
and diametral tolerance, and the corresponding centreless ξij Grey relational coefficient for the ith perfor-
cylindrical grinding parameters are dressing feed, grinding mance characteristic in the jth experiment
feed, dwell time and cycle time. In this study, since the xoi The ideal normalised S/N ratio for the ith
process is with multiple-performance characteristics, there- performance characteristic
fore, the grey relational analysis that uses grey relational ξ Distinguishing coefficient
grade as performance index is specially adopted to γj The grey relational grade for the jth
determine the optimal combination of centreless cylindrical experiment
grinding parameters. Moreover, the principal component wi The weighting factor for the ith performance
analysis is applied to evaluate the weighting values characteristic
corresponding to various performance characteristics so xi (j) Original multiple quality characteristic array
that their relative importance can be properly and objec- Rjl Correlation coefficient array
tively described. The results of confirmation experiments Cov(xi(j), Covariance of sequences xi(j) and xi(l)
reveal that grey relational analysis coupled with principal xi(l))
component analysis can effectively be used to obtain the s xi ðjÞ Standard deviation of sequence xi(j)
optimal combination of centreless cylindrical grinding s xi ðlÞ Standard deviation of sequence xi(l)
parameters. Hence, this confirms that the proposed ap- λk Eigenvalues
proach in this study can be a useful tool to improve the Vik Eigenvectors corresponding to the eigenvalue
centreless cylindrical grinding performance of valve stem in λk
in-feed centreless cylindrical grinding process. Ymk Uncorrelated principal component is
formulated
Keywords In-feed centreless cylindrical grinding . Grey
relational coefficients . Principal component analysis .
Optimisation
1 Introduction

In-feed centreless cylindrical grinding is used to finish parts

A. N. Siddiquee (*) : Z. A. Khan : Z. Mallick
Mechanical Engineering Department, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi 110025, India
e-mail: arshadnsiddiqui@gmail.com
of circular symmetry that have projections, variation in
shapes, varying diameters or shoulders. In in-feed method,
the shape variations are accommodated in the form of

grinding wheel (or wheels) truing to form various part
diameters and lengths that describe the part geometry. In
this process, the part is fed to the wheels from above with
no lateral movement of the piece whilst it is being ground.
This makes the process well suited for profiles and multi-
diameter components. Figure 1 illustrates schematic of the
in-feed centreless cylindrical grinding. Figure 2 shows the
photographic view of the grinding process on an in-feed
centreless cylindrical grinding machine (make: HMT model
GCL-50 TG CNC). This process involves a large number of
influencing factors that are non-linear, interdependent and
difficult to quantify. It is the process of choice for high-
volume finishing of surfaces of revolution-shaped compo-
nents. Despite all its merits, it is marked with instability
problems. Further, the characteristics of the machined
surfaces such as surface finish and roundness largely
depend on the machine’s attributes, i.e. its condition,
dynamics, setup and also on process parameters [1, 2].
Available literature shows that such issues have been
extensively studied and addressed analytically [1]. This
has led to remarkable improvements in the technology of
accurate machines. Yet, due to complexities related to the
machine and its setup, the success of the process depends to
a large extent on the initial setup conditions and process
parameters, which in many cases is done by extensive trial
and errors based on the operator’s skills [2]. Thus, finding
optimum process parameters is still a challenge from the
manufacturing process point of view.
In order to control the centreless cylindrical grinding
process, it is necessary to quantify roundness, surface
roughness and tolerance, which are the most critical quality
characteristics for the selection of centreless cylindrical
grinding process parameters. The roundness of a part is
determined by the initial conditions, i.e. blade angle and
Grinding Wheel
Work Piece
Ejector Pin
Control Wheel
Fig. 1 Schematic of in-feed centreless grinding process
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Fig. 2 Photographic view of the grinding process
part height [2]. The surface roughness of the finished
component depends on the grinding gap setup, the dressing
condition and the significant process kinematical factors
[2]. Roughness is observed to be affected by the dwell time
as well. Dimensional tolerances of the finished part are
established by work rest setting below the part being
ground, feed cycle time and dwell. Apart from these, the
feed affects all quality attributes like roundness, out of
cylindricity, surface roughness and dimensional tolerance.
Usually, the desired process parameters are determined
based on experience or handbook values. However, this
does not ensure whether a truly or near-optimal results of
centreless cylindrical grinding performance can be obtained
or not. Therefore, it is highly expected for industry to
search for a simple and effective experiment method that
can be used to quickly optimise the centreless cylindrical
grinding process parameters. In this paper, the proposed
method is grey relational analysis associated with principal
component analysis (PCA) to study the optimisation
problem of the in-feed centreless cylindrical grinding
process parameters on the grinding of valve stem made of
EN52 steel.
Through grey relational analysis, a grey relational grade
is defined as an indicator of the multiple-performance
characteristics for evaluation. In recent years, this analysis
has become a powerful tool to analyse the processes with
multiple-performance characteristics. Lu et al. [3] used grey
relational analysis coupled with principal component
analysis to optimise process parameter of high-speed end
milling of SKD61 tool steel. Çaydaş and Hasçalık [4]
employed grey relational analysis for the optimisation of
laser cutting process of St-37 steel. Ko-Ta [5] used fuzzy-
based grey relational analysis to find optimal process
conditions of an injection-moulded thermoplastic part with
a thin-shell feature. Chiang and Chang [6] used grey
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

relational analysis to determine optimal wire electrical 2 Analysis method

discharge machining parameters for machining Al2O3
particle reinforced material with multiple-performance 2.1 Signal-to-noise ratio
characteristics (surface removal rate and maximum surface
roughness). Tosun [7] used grey relational analysis for Taguchi method is one of the simple and effective solutions
optimising the drilling process parameters such as feed rate, for parameter design and experimental planning [19]. In
cutting speed, drill type and point angles of drill for the this method, signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio is used to represent
workpiece surface roughness and burr height. Palanikumar a performance characteristic and the largest value of S/N
et al. [8] optimised the turning parameters such as cutting ratio is required. There are three types of S/N ratio—the
speed, feed rate, depth of cut and machining time based on the lower the better, the higher the better and the nominal the
multiple-performance characteristics including material re- better. The S/N ratio with a lower-the-better characteristic
moval rate, tool wear, surface roughness and specific cutting can be expressed as:
pressure by using grey relational analysis method. Lin [9] !
1X n
applied the Taguchi method and grey relational analysis to hij ¼
10 log y :
2
ð1Þ
n j¼1 ij
optimise turning operations with multi-performance charac-
teristics (tool life, cutting forces and surface roughness). The S/N ratio with a higher-the-better characteristic can be
Chang and Lu [10] used grey relational analysis to set two- expressed as:
stage experiments to determine cutting parameters for !
1X n
1
optimising the side milling process with multi-performance hij ¼
10 log : ð2Þ
characteristics. Yang et al. [11] employed grey relational n j¼1 y2ij
analysis method to determine optimal machining parame- The S/N ratio with a nominal-the-better characteristic can
ter setting for the end milling of high-purity graphite under be expressed as:
dry machining conditions. Most of the researchers used !
their subjective judgment to establish the weighting values 1 Xn
hij ¼
10 log y2 ð3Þ
of various performance characteristics to calculate the ns j¼1 ij
values of grey relational grade. The drawback of this where yij is the ith experiment at the jth test, n is the total
approach is that it does not give actual weighting of number of the tests and s is the standard deviation.
various performance characteristics. To overcome this
limitation, Jean and Tsai [12] and Peng et al. [13] used 2.2 Grey relational analysis
fuzzy logic to calculate weighting for determining grey
relational grade to optimise a problem involving multiple- The grey relational generating [20], a linear normalisation
performance characteristics. In addition, this paper introduces of the S/N ratio, is performed in the range between zero and
a desirable solution for a multi-performance characteristic unity. The normalised S/N ratio xij for the ith performance
problem—grey relational analysis for optimising combina- characteristic in the jth experiment can be expressed as:
tion of centreless cylindrical grinding process parameters
and principal component analysis for determining the hij
minj hij
xij ¼ : ð4Þ
corresponding weighting values of various performance maxj hij
minj hij
characteristics.
Usually, the larger normalised S/N ratio corresponds to the
Pearson [14] proposed PCA which was subsequently
better performance and the best normalised S/N ratio is
developed as a statistical tool by Hotelling [15]. This
approach preserves as much original information as
possible by significantly simplifying a large number of
correlated variables into fewer uncorrelated and indepen-
dent principal components. In recent times, PCA has
79.6 mm

gradually become an analytical tool for the optimisation

of a system with multiple-performance characteristics [16–
18].
This paper describes the analysis method and the
experimental design and subsequently the optimisation of
the centreless cylindrical grinding parameters based on
Ground Length = 98 mm
the grey relational analysis coupled with principal
component analysis. Finally, it concludes the summary
of this study. Fig. 3 IC engine valve
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Table 1 Composition of EN52 grade valve steel Table 3 Experimental layout using an L9 orthogonal array

Chemical composition (average values in %) No Grinding parameter

Grade C Si Mn P S Cr Mo Ni N Dressing feed Grinding feed Dwell time Cycle time

(mm/min) (mm/min) (s) (s)
EN52 0.40– 2.70– 0.80 0.04 0.03 8.0– – – –
0.50 3.30 max max max 10.0 1 1 1 1 1
2 1 2 2 2
Source: http://www.gkwltd.com/product3.html
3 1 3 3 3
4 2 1 2 3
equal to unity. The grey relational coefficient is calculated 5 2 2 3 1
to express the relationship between the ideal (best) and 6 2 3 1 2
actual normalised S/N ratio. 7 3 1 3 2
The grey relational coefficient ξij for the ith performance 8 3 2 1 3
characteristic in the jth experiment can be expressed as 9 3 3 2 1





mini minj
xoi
xij
þ x maxi maxj
xoi
xij

xij ¼



ð5Þ

xo
xij
þ x maxi maxj
xo
xij
1. The original multiple quality characteristic array
i i

where xoi is the ideal normalised S/N ratio for the ith
xi ðjÞ; i ¼ 1; 2; :::::::; m; j ¼ 1; 2; ::::::::; n
performance characteristic and ξ distinguishing coefficient
which is defined in the range 0≤ξ≤1. 2 3
x1 ð1Þ x1 ð2Þ   x1 ðnÞ
A weighting method is then used to integrate the grey 6 7
relational coefficients of each experiment into the grey 6 x2 ð1Þ x2 ð2Þ     x2ðnÞ 7
6 7
X ¼6 . .. .. 7 ð7Þ
relational grade. The overall evaluation of the multiple- 6 ..   7
performance characteristics is based on the grey relational 4 . . 5
grade, i.e. xm ð1Þ xm ð2Þ     xm ðnÞ

1 Xm where m is the number of experiment and n is the number

gj ¼ wi xij ð6Þ of the quality characteristic. In this paper, x is the grey
m i¼1

where γj is the grey relational grade for the jth experiment,

w i is the weighting factor for the ith performance
characteristic and m is the number of performance
characteristics. In this study, the corresponding weighting
values are obtained from the principal component analysis.

2.3 Principal component analysis

PCA was developed by Pearson [14] and Hotelling [15].

This approach explains the structure of variance–covariance
by way of the linear combinations of each quality
characteristic. The procedure is described as follows [16]:

Table 2 Centreless cylindrical grinding parameters and their levels

Grinding Symbol Units Levels

parameters
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Dressing feed A mm/min 5 8 10

Grinding feed B mm/min 2 6 10
Dwell time C s 1.5 2.5 3
Cycle time D s 10 11 12 Fig. 4 Photographic view of the precision fixture used for measure-
ment of response variables
Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Table 4 Experimental results

No Surface roughness (μm) Out of cylindricity ×10−3 (μm) Diametral tolerance (mm)

Ra1 Ra2 Ra3 OC1 OC2 OC3 T1 T2 T3

1 0.42 0.43 0.445 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.001 0.002 0.001

2 0.41 0.43 0.477 0.00 1.00 1.00 0 −0.001 −0.001
3 0.44 0.41 0.432 1.00 1.00 1.00 −0.002 −0.002 −0.002
4 0.59 0.58 0.563 2.00 2.00 1.00 0.001 0.001 0.001
5 0.56 0.67 0.61 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.001 0.002 0.001
6 0.71 0.79 0.79 1.00 1.00 2.00 0 0.001 0.002
7 0.49 0.48 0.544 4.00 3.00 3.00 0.003 0.004 0.004
8 0.52 0.49 0.541 3.00 2.00 4.00 0.003 0.004 0.004
9 0.57 0.57 0.521 3.00 4.00 4.00 0.003 0.003 0.004

relational coefficient of each quality characteristic and m=9 4. Principal components

and n=3.
The uncorrelated principal component is formulated as:
2. Correlation coefficient array
X
n

The correlation coefficient array is evaluated as follows: Ymk ¼ xm ðiÞ  Vik ð10Þ
i¼1
 
Covðxi ðjÞ; xi ðlÞ Þ
Rjl ¼ ð8Þ where Ym1 is called the first principal component, Ym2 is
s ðxi Þ ðjÞ  s ðxi Þ ðlÞ called the second principal component and so on.
j ¼ 1; 2; 3;    ; n ; l ¼ 1; 2; 3;    ; n The principal components are aligned in descending order
with respect to variance, and therefore, the first principal
where Cov(xi(j),xi(l)) is the covariance of sequences xi(j) component Ym1 accounts for most variance in the data.
and xi(l), s xi ðjÞ is the standard deviation of sequence xi(j)
and s xi ðlÞ is the standard deviation of sequence xi(l).
3. Determining the eigenvalues and eigenvectors 3 Experimental procedure

The eigenvalues and eigenvectors are determined from The experiments were conducted on an in-feed centreless
the correlation coefficient array, cylindrical grinding machine. The schematic diagram of the
ðR
lk Im ÞVik ¼ 0 ð9Þ centreless cylindrical grinding process is shown in Fig. 1.
Pn The process involved centreless cylindrical grinding of an
where λk—eigenvalues and k¼1 lk ¼ n; k ¼ 1; 2; :::::::::; n; internal combustion (IC) engine valve stem made of EN52
Vik ¼ ½ak1 ak2 ::::::akn T —eigenvectors corresponding to the
eigenvalue λk.
Table 6 Normalised S/N ratios

No Surface Out of Diametral

Table 5 The sequences of S/N ratio roughness cylindricity tolerance

No Surface roughness Out of cylindricity Diametral tolerance Ideal 1.00 1.00 1.00
sequence
1 7.26 63.52 57.50 1 0.97 1.00 0.59
2 7.13 63.52 63.52 2 0.95 1.00 1.00
3 7.40 60.00 53.98 3 1.00 0.76 0.36
4 4.78 55.56 60.00 4 0.48 0.46 0.76
5 4.25 60.00 57.50 5 0.38 0.76 0.59
6 2.35 57.50 60.00 6 0.00 0.59 0.76
7 5.96 49.54 48.71 7 0.72 0.06 0.00
8 5.74 50.46 48.71 8 0.67 0.12 0.00
9 5.14 48.71 49.54 9 0.55 0.00 0.06

Table 7 The calculated grey relational coefficient
No Surface roughness Out of cylindricity Diametral tolerance
1 0.95 1.00
2 0.90 1.00
3 1.00 0.68
4 0.49 0.48
5 0.44 0.68
6 0.33 0.55
7 0.64 0.35
8 0.60 0.36
9 0.53 0.33
austenitic grade valve steel having 79.6 mm diameter. An
A80N5V45 grinding wheel rotating at 1,440 rpm (giving a
surface speed of 45 m/s) and an A80RR control wheel were
used for this purpose. The centreless cylindrical grinding
process was carried out over a length of 98 mm of valve
stem (Fig. 3) with a job height of 212 mm above the blade.
The chemical composition of the EN52 is given in Table 1.
4 Experimental design and results
4.1 Experimental design
For centreless cylindrical grinding process, surface rough-
ness (Ra), out of cylindricity and diametral tolerance were
selected as response variables to evaluate centreless
cylindrical grinding performance. Because of the large
number of independent parameters that control the centre-
less cylindrical grinding process, some preliminary experi-
ments were conducted in order to determine which
parameters should be considered for optimisation. Four
parameters (dressing feed, grinding feed, dwell time and
cycle time) were varied to obtain optimum levels of
parameters for acceptable quality. The centreless cylindrical
grinding process parameters and their levels are shown in
Table 2. In order that the experiments were performed
under chatter-free conditions, indirect parameters such as
coolant flow rate (50 l/min), grinding depth (60 μm), blade
angle (32°), control wheel speed (25 rpm), blade height
(212 mm), in-feed speed (20 rpm) and control wheel angle
(1°) were kept constant during experimentation. These
values of the indirect parameters were chosen as they were
suggested by the experts, and subsequently, experimental
trials were conducted to verify that these conditions lead to
chatter free grinding.
The selection of the orthogonal array is concerned with
the total degree of freedom of the centreless cylindrical
grinding process parameters. The degree of freedom is
defined as the number of comparisons amongst the process
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
parameters required to optimise the parameters. In the
present study, there are four centreless cylindrical grinding
parameters with three levels. By neglecting the interaction
0.55 amongst the centreless cylindrical grinding parameters, the
1.00 total degree of freedom is 8. Once the degree of freedom is
0.44 known, the next step is to select an appropriate orthogonal
0.68 array. The degree of freedom for the orthogonal array
0.55 should be greater than or at least equal to that of the process
0.68 parameters. Thereby, a L9 orthogonal array is considered.
0.33 The experimental layout is shown in Table 3.
0.33
0.35 4.2 Experimental results
Experiments were carried out on IC engine valve stem
made of EN52 as per the procedure outlined in Section 3.
Each test run was replicated three times so that the total
number of runs was 27. The surface roughness was
measured using a Taylor Hobson make SurfCom instru-
ment. The sampling length of each measurement was set to
6 mm as per the recommendations of ASME B-46.1-2002.
In order to measure out of cylindricity, a precision fixture
(Fig. 4) was used on which the ground valve stem was held.
Three equidistant sampling lengths of 6 mm each were
taken on the valve stem. At each end of the first sampling
length, the probe of a dial-micrometre gauge was touched
to the valve stem. Subsequently, the valve stem was given
one complete rotation and the minimum and maximum
deflections in the pointer were recorded. The difference
between the maximum and minimum deflections gave the
measure of out of cylindricity over the sampling length.
Same process was repeated on other sampling lengths and
average was taken as the measure of out of cylindricity for
the ground valve stem. Diametral tolerance in terms of
deviation from the nominal position as indicated by
micrometre gauge at each sampling length was measured
and average was taken that gave the measure of diametral
tolerance of the valve stem.
5 Analysis and discussion
The following sequential steps were adopted to determine
the optimal combinations of the centreless cylindrical
Table 8 The eigenvalues and explained variation for principal
components
Principal component Eigenvalue Explained variation (%)
First 1.9916 66.17
Second 0.8850 29.40
Third 0.1334 4.43
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Table 9 The eigenvectors for principal components
Quality characteristic Eigenvector
First principal component
Surface roughness 0.4985
Out of cylindricity 0.6829
Diametral tolerance 0.5340
grinding process parameters based on grey relational
analysis coupled with principal analysis:
1. S/N ratios for the experimental data were calculated.
2. The S/N ratios were normalised.
3. Corresponding grey relational coefficients were calculated.
4. PCA was used and the grey relational grades were
calculated
5. Statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed.
6. Optimal levels of centreless cylindrical grinding process
parameters were obtained.
7. Finally, confirmation experiments were conducted.
5.1 Optimal combination of the centreless cylindrical
grinding process parameters
Initially, the experimental results were used to obtain S/N
ratios for the performance characteristics to find a desirable
result with the best performance and the smallest variance.
Surface roughness, out of cylindricity and diametral
tolerance were the lower-the-better performance character-
istics. The experimental results listed in Table 4 were
substituted in Eq. 1 to calculate S/N ratios of surface
roughness, out of cylindricity and diametral tolerance and
they are shown in Table 5. Usually, the larger the S/N ratio
is, the better is the performance characteristic.
All the original sequences of S/N ratio in Table 5 were
then substituted in Eq. 4 to get normalised values which are
shown in Table 6. According to Deng [21], larger values of
the normalised results correspond to better performance,
and the maximum normalised results that are equal to 1
indicate the best performance.
The results shown in Table 6 were substituted in Eq. 5 to
calculate grey relational coefficients of surface roughness,
Table 10 The contribution of each individual quality characteristic
for the principal component
Quality characteristic Contribution
Surface roughness 0.2485
Out of cylindricity 0.4663
Diametral tolerance 0.2852
Second principal component Third principal component
0.7339 0.4613
0.0046 0.7305
0.6792 0.5035
out of cylindricity and diametral tolerance which are shown
in Table 7.
PCA was used to determine the corresponding weighting
values for each performance characteristic to reflect its
relative importance in the grey relational analysis. The
elements of the array for multiple-performance character-
istics listed in Table 7 represent the grey relational
coefficient of each performance characteristic. These data
were used to evaluate the correlation coefficient matrix and
to determine the corresponding eigenvalues from Eq. 9. The
eigenvalues are shown in Table 8. The eigenvector
corresponding to each eigenvalue is listed in Table 9. The
square of the eigenvalue matrix represents the contribution
of the respective performance characteristic to the principal
component. The contribution of surface roughness, out of
cylindricity and diametral tolerance is shown in Table 10.
These contributions are indicated as 0.2485, 0.4663 and
0.2852. Moreover, the variance contribution for the first
principal component characterising the three performance
characteristics is as high as 66.17%. Hence, for this study,
the squares of its corresponding eigenvectors were selected
as the weighting values of the related performance
characteristic, and coefficients w1, w2 and w3 in Eq. 6 were
thereby set as 0.2485, 0.4663 and 0.2852, respectively.
Based on Eq. 6 and data listed in Table 7, the grey
relational grades were calculated as shown in Table 11.
Thus, the optimisation design was performed with respect
to a single grey relational grade rather than complicated
performance characteristics.
Table 11 Grey relational grade and its order
No Grey relational grade Order
1 0.8595 2
2 0.9763 1
3 0.6890 3
4 0.5401 5
5 0.5839 4
6 0.5333 6
7 0.4149 7
8 0.4136 8
9 0.3854 9
 Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Table 12 Response table for the grey relational grade

Symbol Grinding parameter Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Max–min

A Dressing feed 0.8416 0.5524 0.4046 0.4370

B Grinding feed 0.6443 0.6579 0.5359 0.1220
C Dwell time 0.6021 0.6339 0.5626 0.0713
D Cycle time 0.6096 0.6415 0.5476 0.0939

Average grey relational grade=0.5996

The response table of Taguchi method was employed to
calculate the average grey relational grade for each
centreless cylindrical grinding parameter level. It was done
by sorting the grey relational grades corresponding to levels
of the centreless cylindrical grinding parameter in each
column of the orthogonal array and taking an average on
those with the same level. For instance, in the first column
in the orthogonal array (as shown in Table 3), the no. 1, no.
2 and no. 3 were the experimental runs at which centreless
cylindrical grinding parameter A was set at level 1. The
associated values of grey relational grade for A1 are those
experimental runs’ grey relational grades. Therefore, their
average is the average grey relational grade for A1:
A1 ¼ ð0:8595 þ 0:9763 þ 0:6890Þ=3¼ 0:8416 :
Similarly, the average grey relational grade for A2 and A3
are calculated as follows:
A2 ¼ ð0:5401 þ 0:5839 þ 0:5333Þ=3¼ 0:5524
A3 ¼ ð0:4149 þ 0:4136 þ 0:3854Þ=3¼ 0:4046 :
Using the same method, calculations were performed for
each centreless cylindrical grinding parameter level and the
response table was constructed as shown in Table 12.
Figure 5 shows the grey relational grade graph, where the
dashed line in the figure is the value of the total mean of the
grey relational grade. Basically, the larger the grey
relational grade, the better are the multiple-performance
characteristics. Accordingly, we selected the level that gave
the largest average response. From the response table for
the grey relational grades shown in Table 12, the best
combination of the centreless cylindrical grinding parame-
ters is the set with A1 (dressing feed of 5 mm/min), B2
(grinding feed of 6 mm/min), C2 (dwell time of 2.5 s) and
D2 (cycle time of 11 s).
5.2 Analysis of variance
The purpose of ANOVA was to investigate which centreless
cylindrical grinding process parameters significantly affected
the performance characteristics. This was accomplished
by separating the total variability of the grey relational
grades, which was measured by the sum of the squared
deviations from the total mean of the grey relational
grade, into contributions by each centreless cylindrical
grinding process parameter and the error. The percentage
contribution by each of the process parameter in the total
sum of the squared deviations was used to evaluate the
importance of the process parameter change on the
performance characteristic. In addition, the F test was
also used to determine which centreless cylindrical
grinding process parameters had a significant effect on

0.9

0.8
Grey Relational Grade

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3
Process Parameter Level

Fig. 5 Grey relational grade graph

Int J Adv Manuf Technol

Table 13 Results of the analysis of variance

Symbol Grinding parameter Degree of freedom Sum of square Mean square F value Contribution (%)

A Dressing feed 2 0.296 0.148 38.7 84.88

B Grinding feed 2 0.022 0.011 2.93 4.35
C Dwell time 2 0.00765 – – –
D Cycle time 2 0.014 0.007 1.79 1.78
Error 2 0.00765 0.00383 8.99
Total 8 0.340 0.043 100.00

the performance characteristic. Usually, the change of the
centreless cylindrical grinding process parameter has a
significant effect on the performance characteristic when
the F value is large. The results of ANOVA for the grey
relational grade are listed in Table 13. It shows that
dressing feed is the most significant centreless cylindrical
grinding process parameters for affecting the multiple-
performance characteristics due to its highest percentage
contribution amongst the process parameters. Table 13
further shows that the grinding process parameter, dwell time,
does not have statistically significant effect on the multiple-
performance characteristics. It may be noted that dwell time
might have an effect on some response variables individually
but its effect might be insignificant, when all response
variables are considered together with different weightages as
it has been observed in the present experimental investigation.
5.3 Confirmation test
After obtaining the optimal level of the centreless cylindri-
cal grinding parameters, the next step is to verify the
improvement of the performance characteristics using this
optimal combination. Table 14 compares the results of the
confirmation experiments using the optimal centreless
cylindrical grinding parameters (A1, B2, C2, D2) obtained
by the proposed method and with those of the initial
centreless cylindrical grinding parameters (A2, B1, C3, D3).
As shown in Table 14, surface roughness decreases from
0.58 to 0.44 μm; out of cylindricity decreases from 2.00×
10−3 to 1.00×10−3 μm and diametral tolerance decreases
from 0.001 to −0.001 mm. Consequently, these confirma-
tion tests reveal that the proposed algorithm for solving the
optimal combinations of the centreless cylindrical grinding
parameters in this work improves surface roughness, out of
cylindricity and diametral tolerance of IC engine valve
stem.
6 Conclusion
This paper presents an application of grey relational
analysis coupled with principal component analysis for
optimising the centreless cylindrical grinding process
parameters for operation on IC engine valve stem made of
EN52. The results of the present study are summarised as
follows:
1. The principal component analysis, used to determine
the corresponding weighting values of each perfor-
mance characteristics whilst applying grey relational
analysis to a problem with multiple-performance
characteristics, is proven to be capable of objectively
reflecting the relative importance for each performance
characteristic.
2. Based on analysis of variance, the major controllable
factor significantly affecting the multiple-performance
characteristics is dressing feed with a desired total
contribution of 84.88%.
3. The optimal combination of the centreless cylindrical
grinding parameters obtained from the proposed method
is the set with A1, B2, C2 and D2. The corresponding
confirmation tests shows that surface roughness, out
of cylindricity and diametral tolerance, i.e. deviation
from the nominal diameter of IC engine valve stem,
decrease by 24.17%, 50% and 200%, respectively.
Diametral tolerance refers to deviation from the
nominal diameter of the valve stem. In the present
study, the deviation at the initial design has been

Table 14 Comparison between initial level and optimal level

Best combination Surface roughness (μm) Out of cylindricity ×10−3 (μm) Diametral tolerance (mm)

Initial design A2B1C3D3 0.58 2.00 0.001

Optimal design A1B2C2D2 0.44 1.00 −0.001
Final gain 0.14 1.00 0.002

found as 0.001 mm (Table 14). However, the deviation
was found to have reduced to −0.001 mm at the
optimal design. A reduction in the deviation from
0.001 to −0.001 mm is in fact a reduction of 200%.
4. The proposed algorithm greatly simplifies the optimi-
sation design of centreless cylindrical grinding param-
eters with multiple-performance characteristics. Thus,
the solutions from this method can be used by
engineers who are willing to search for an optimal
solution of centreless cylindrical grinding process.
References
1. Bueno R, Zatarain M, Aguinagalde JM (1990) Geometric and
dynamic stability in centerless grinding. CIRP Ann 39(1):395–398
2. Hashimoto F, Lahoti GD (2004) Optimization of set-up conditions
for stability of the centreless grinding process. CIRP Ann Manuf
Technol 53(1):271–274
3. Lu HS, Chang CK, Hwanga NC, Chung CT (2008) Grey
relational analysis coupled with principal component analysis for
optimization design of the cutting parameters in high-speed end
milling. J Mater Process Technol . doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.
2008.08.030
4. Çaydaş U, Hasçalık A (2008) Use of the grey relational analysis
to determine optimum laser cutting parameters with multi-
performance characteristics. Opt Laser Technol 40(7):987–994
5. Ko-Ta C (2007) The optimal process conditions of an injection-
molded thermoplastic part with a thin shell feature using grey-
fuzzy logic: a case study on machining the PC/ABS cell phone
shell. Mater Des 28(6):1851–1860
6. Chiang KT, Chang FP (2006) Optimization of WEDM process of
particle reinforced material with multiply performance character-
istics using grey relational analysis. J Mater Process Technol
180:96–101
View publication stats
Int J Adv Manuf Technol
7. Tosun N (2006) Determination of optimum parameters for multi-
performance characteristics in drilling by using grey relational
analysis. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 28:450–455
8. Palanikumar K, Karunamoorthy L, Karthilesyan R (2006)
Multiple performance optimization of machining parameters on
the machining of GFRP composites using carbide (K10) tool.
Mater Manuf Process 21:846–852
9. Lin CL (2004) Use of the Taguchi method and grey relational
analysis to optimize turning operations with multiple performance
characteristics. Mater Manuf Process 19:209–220
10. Chang CK, Lu HS (2007) Design optimization of cutting
parameters for side milling operations with multiple performance
characteristics. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 32:18–26
11. Yang YY, Shie JR, Huang CH (2006) Optimization of dry
machining parameters for high purity graphite in end-milling
process. Mater Manuf Process 21:832–837
12. Jean MD, Tsai JS (2004) Intelligent designs of experiment for
multiple characteristics optimizing a small-scale aquaculture
environment. J Technol 19(4):349–357
13. Peng Z, Kirk TB (1999) Wear particle classification in a fuzzy
grey system. Wear 225:1238–1247
14. Pearson K (1901) On lines and planes of closest fit to systems of
points in space. Philos Mag Series 62:559–572
15. Hotelling H (1993) Analysis of a complex of statistical variables
into principal components. J Educ Psychol 24:417–441
16. Fung HC, Kang PC (2005) Multi-response optimization in friction
properties of PBT composites using Taguchi method and principal
component analysis. J Mater Process Technol 170:602–610
17. Liao HC (2006) Multi-response optimization using weighted
principal component. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 27:720–725
18. Tong LI, Wang CH, Chen HC (2005) Optimization of multiple
responses using principal component analysis and technique for
order preference by similarity to ideal solution. Int J Adv Manuf
27:407–414
19. Ross PJ (1988) Taguchi techniques for quality engineering.
McGraw-Hill, New York
20. Deng J (1982) Control problems of grey systems. Syst Control
Lett 5:288–294
21. Deng J (1989) Introduction to grey system. J Grey Syst 1(1):1–24