Optimisation of processing parameters of titanium foams using Taguchi method for compressive strength

Abstract

In this paper, titanium alloy was used to prepare titanium foam using the slurry method. The compressive strength is the most important properties to be considered to produce a good sample. To achieve a high compressive strength of the titanium alloy foam, the effects of various parameters including temperature, time profile and composition have to be characterised and optimised. This paper reports the use of the Taguchi method in optimising the processing parameters of pure titanium foams. The effects of four sintering factors, namely, composition, sintering temperature, heating rate and soaking time on the compressive strength has been studied. The titanium slurry was prepared by mixing titanium alloy powder, polyethylene glycol (PEG), methylcellulose and water. Polyurethane (PU) foams were then impregnated into the slurry and later dried at room temperature. These were next sintered in a high temperature vacuum furnace. The various factors were assigned to an L9 orthogonal array. From the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), the composition of titanium has the highest percentage of contribution (64.64) to the compressive strength followed by the soaking time of sintering factor (6.01). The optimum compressive strength was found to be 38.03 MPa for this titanium alloy foam. It was achieved with a 750% composition of titanium, sintering temperature of 1250oC, a heating rate of 1.5oC/min and 120 minutes of soaking time.