Abstract

Copper and its alloys are the most versatile engineering materials, offering a wide range of
mechanical properties such as strength, machinability and ductility that make them uniquely
suited to a vast number of applications. In the present study, an extensive work has been carried
out to quantify the tensile properties of pure copper at subzero temperatures with different
crosshead velocities in three orientations. The process parameters plays a major role in this
investigation, the three low temperatures were 00C, -250C, -500C, the three cross head velocities
were 3, 5, 7mm/min and the three orientations such as 0, 45, 90 degrees. The main objective of
this work is to optimize these process parameters by using Taguchi method and to anticipate the
optimum tensile properties such as ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and % of elongation.
L9 orthogonal array was selected to conduct the experiments based on Taguchi robust design and
to study the influence of various combinations of process parameters on tensile properties of
copper. Data collected from Taguchi experiments were analyzed and optimum condition was
reported. In addition to that Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was carried out to determine the
significance of each process parameter for finding tensile and percentage elongation behavior of
copper material.

1. Introduction
Cryogenics is the branch of science that deals with the physical behavior of materials at low
temperatures. The word cryogenics has been derived from two Greek words namely, cryos and
genes, since cryos implies icy cold and genes implies born. The vital significance of cryogenics
has been consistently expanding since its domain of temperatures includes liquefied natural gas,
liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, liquid argon, liquid hydrogen and liquid helium. At present, liquid
natural gas represents one of the greatest and rapidly developing mechanical areas of utilization
of cryogenics together with the liquefaction and detachment of air gases. The properties of
different materials at low temperatures can be entirely different than the high temperature values.
Likewise, a few properties can be strong functions of temperature. So, the design of systems for
operation at cryogenic temperatures requires the utilization of material properties at these low
temperatures. Pure copper sometimes referred to as oxygen free high conductivity (OFHC)
copper and it has an excellent electrical and thermal conductivity along with a good corrosion
resistance. Also, it retains a high degree of ductility and toughness at subzero temperatures. One
of the advantages of copper is that, since it is a face-centered structure, it becomes stronger and
more ductile as the temperature goes down, retaining outstanding impact resistance to 20K. In
addition, copper can be perpetually recycled without any loss of performance or quality even at
subzero temperatures. The combination of these properties makes copper and its alloys suitable
for a wide range of applications such as automotive industry, transportation, telecommunications,
architecture, industrial machinery, marine industry, heat exchangers and renewable energy. At
present, over half of the copper produced is used in electrical and electronic applications.
Ageladarakis et al [1] have been presented information for the tensile and fracture toughness
tests of siclanic (CuNiSi) at room and cryogenic temperatures. The tests included heat treatments
and were followed by relevant factographic analyses using optical and scanning electron
microscopes. Finally, it has been evident that, the yield strength of the material is moderately
insensitive to temperature and fracture toughness increases with decrease in temperature. Jian
Xie el al [2] have reported the experimental and analytical studies on the mechanical properties
of HRB335, HRB400, and SLTS type of reinforcing steels under different cryogenic
temperatures ranging from -1650C to 200C. Also, design equations were developed through the
regression analysis to predict the yield and ultimate strengths of these three types of steels at low
temperatures. The accuracies of these developed equations were checked through validations of
the predictions against the test results. Eventually, based on test results and analysis, it has been
observed that the yield and ultimate strengths for tested steel increased with decrease in
temperature. On the other hand, as the temperature goes down the ductility and fracture strains of
steels reduced.

2. Methodology
2.1 Taguchi Method

Taguchi method was developed by Genichi Taguchi, a Japanese engineer, is a process or product
optimization technique. Initially it was developed for improving the quality of manufactured
goods, and more recently there is a rapid growth in the usage of Taguchi method that has been
led to many other fields such as engineering, biotechnology, marketing and advertising. It
involves identification of proper control factors to obtain the optimum results of process. This
technique is useful for tuning a given process for best outcomes. Taguchi developed a special
design of Orthogonal Arrays, is a general type of highly fractional factorial design and it is based
on matrix design and these arrays are used to study the entire process parameters with a
minimum number of experiments only. In addition, Orthogonal arrays provide a set of well
balanced experiments and desired output, serve as objective functions for optimization, and help
in data analysis and prediction of optimum results. The trial results are then changed into a
Signal-to-Noise ratio (S/N). The term Signal represents the desirable value for the output
characteristic whereas the term Noise represents the undesirable value for the output
characteristic. Taguchi method utilizes the S/N ratio as a measure of quality characteristics
deviating from or nearing to the desired values. There are three categories of quality
characteristics in the analysis of the S/N ratio to optimize the static problems, i.e. the smaller-the-
better, the larger-the-better and the nominal-the-better. The equations used for calculating S/N
ratio for three different categories is given below.

Smaller-the-better: This case arises when a specified value is least desired.

𝑛
𝑆 1
𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 = −10𝑙𝑜𝑔10 ∑ 𝑦𝑖2
𝑁 𝑛
𝑖=1

Where, 𝑦𝑖 = observed response value and n = number of replications

Nominal-the-better: This case arises when a predetermined value is most desired, implies that
neither a smaller nor a larger value is desirable.
 𝑆 𝜇2
𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 = −10𝑙𝑜𝑔10 2
𝑁 𝜎
Where, 𝜇 = mean and 𝜎 = variance

Larger-the-better: this case emerges where the larger value is desired.

𝑛
𝑆 1
𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 = −10𝑙𝑜𝑔10 ∑ 𝑦𝑖2
𝑁 𝑛
𝑖=1

Where, 𝑦𝑖 = observed response value and n = number of replications.

2.2 Grey-Taguchi optimization

In the Grey relational analysis, experimental results (ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and
% elongation) are initially normalized ranging from zero to one, which is also called as grey
relational generation. Next, the grey relational coefficient is determined from the standard
experimental data to express the correlation between the desired and actual experimental data.
Then, the Grey relational grade is computed by averaging the grey relational coefficient
corresponding to each process response. The overall performance characteristic of the numerous
process responses based on the grey relational grade. This approach converts a multiple response
process optimization problem into a single response optimization situation with the objective
function of overall grey relational grade. Analyze the experimental results using grey relational
grade and statistical ANOVA. The optimal parametric combination is then evaluated, which
would result the highest grey relational grade. The optimal factor setting for maximizing overall
grey relational grade can be performed by Taguchi method.

In Grey relational generation, the percentage of elongation corresponding to the smaller-the-

better criterion and it can be represented as:

𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑦𝑖 (𝑘) − 𝑦𝑖 (𝑘)

𝑥𝑖 (𝑘) =
𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑦𝑖 (𝑘) − 𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑖 (𝑘)

Ultimate tensile strength and yield strength corresponding to the larger-the-better criterion and it
can be expressed as:

𝑦𝑗 (𝑘) − 𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑗 (𝑘)

𝑥𝑗 (𝑘) =
𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑦𝑗 (𝑘) − 𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑗 (𝑘)

Where, 𝑥𝑖 (𝑘) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑥𝑗 (𝑘) are the values after the grey relational generation for SB and LB
criterion, respectively. 𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑖 (𝑘) is the smallest value of 𝑦𝑖 (𝑘) for the 𝑘 th response and
𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑦𝑖 (𝑘) is the largest value of 𝑦𝑖 (𝑘) for the 𝑘th response. Similarly, 𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑗 (𝑘) is the smallest
value of 𝑦𝑗 (𝑘) for the 𝑘 th response and 𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑦𝑗 (𝑘) is the largest value of 𝑦𝑗 (𝑘) for the 𝑘 th
response.

Table 1 shows the sequences after the grey relational generation. An ideal sequence is ideal
sequence is 𝑥0 (𝑘) (k = 1, 2…, 9) for ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and % elongation.
The definition of the grey relational grade in the grey relational analysis is to display the
relational degree between the 9 sequences [𝑥𝑖 (𝑘) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑥𝑗 (𝑘), i = 1, 2…, 9; k = 1, 2…, 9].

The Grey relational coefficient can be calculated as:

∆𝑚𝑖𝑛 + ∆𝑚𝑎𝑥
(𝑘) =
∆0𝑖 (𝑘) + ∆𝑚𝑎𝑥

Where, ∆0𝑖 (𝑘) = | 𝑥0 (𝑘) – 𝑥𝑖 (𝑘) | is difference of the absolute between 𝑥0 (𝑘) and 𝑥𝑖 (𝑘) ;
∆𝑚𝑖𝑛 = ∀𝑗 𝑚𝑖𝑛 ∈ 𝑖 ∀ 𝑘 𝑚𝑖𝑛 | 𝑥0 (𝑘) − 𝑥𝑖 (𝑘) | is the smallest value of ∆0𝑖 (𝑘) and ∆𝑚𝑎𝑥 = ∀𝑗 𝑚𝑎𝑥 ∈
𝑖 ∀ 𝑘 𝑚𝑎𝑥 | 𝑥0 (𝑘) − 𝑥𝑖 (𝑘) | is the largest value of ∆0𝑖 (𝑘).

After averaging the grey relational coefficients, the grey relational grade can be obtained as:
𝑛
1
𝛾𝑖 = ∑ 𝑖 (𝑘)
𝑛
𝑘=𝑖

Where, n = number of process responses. The higher value of the grey relational grade represents
the stronger relational degree between the reference sequence 𝑥0 (𝑘) and the given
sequence𝑥𝑖 (𝑘). The reference sequence 𝑥0 (𝑘) depicts the best process response. Therefore, the
higher grey relational grade means that the corresponding parameter combination is nearer to the
optimum. The mean of the grey relational grade for each level of parameters with its total mean
and the main effect plot of grey relational grade are very important, because optimal process
condition can be evaluated from this plot.

Taguchi proposed a standard technique for optimizing any process parameters. The use of
Taguchi’s parameter design involves the following steps. They are:

• Recognize the major function, side effects and failure mode.

• Identify the noise factors, testing conditions and quality characteristics.

• Identify the target function to be computed.

• Distinguish the control factors and their levels.

• Select the suitable orthogonal array and construct the matrix.

• Conduct the matrix experiment.

• Analyze the data and establish the optimum levels of control factors. Then anticipate the
Performance at these levels.

• Perform the verification experiment.

Output
Prediction Models

Tensile Strength

Tensile Experimentation Grey Relation

Taguchi Method of Analysis
Strain Rate Ultimate Strength Orthogonal Array Analysis of
Pure Copper Variance
Sub zero Temperatures
Orientation (ANOVA)

Elongation

Material Acquisition Process Parameters Machine learning using Test Validation

Linear Regression
Algorithm

Data flow for the optimization of pure copper (annealed)

3. Experimental details

The tensile experiments were carried out on a precision Universal Testing Machine (UTM) at
different subzero temperatures. It is an ideal for tension and/or compression applications where
tests up to 5KN. The experimental setup is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Experimental setup

In this study, pure copper material was selected according to ASTM E8 to perform tensile test
with a gauge length of 30 mm, gauge width of 6.2 mm and 0.9 mm thickness. The sample
specimen is shown in figure 2. The chemical composition and mechanical properties of the work
piece material are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 – Chemical composition of pure copper (annealed)

Element Cu Zn Pb Bi Ag
Weight (%) 98.8 1.15 0.0010 0.0006 0.006

Table 2 - Orthogonal array L9 of the experimental runs and results

Process parameters Experimental results

Run
Orientation Crosshead Elongation
No. Temperature(0C) UTS(MPa) YS(MPa)
(degrees) velocity(mm/min) (%)
1 0 0 3 252.4053 87.55 15.04
2 0 45 5 256.7477 92.458 10.4633
3 0 90 7 261.1781 101.9677 12.7966
4 -25 0 5 266.9445 107.97 9.9366
5 -25 45 7 274.9085 106.71 10.61
6 -25 90 3 261.7758 113.258 13.2133
7 -50 0 7 292.7353 106.58 11.7033
8 -50 45 3 278.2489 112.457 12.0933
9 -50 90 5 282.6792 120.087 7.3933

Table 3 - Orthogonal array L9 of the experimental runs

S. No Temperature(0C)
1 1
2 1
3 1
4 2
5 2
6 2
7 3
8 3
9 3
Crosshead
Orientation (degrees)
velocity(mm/min)
1 1
2 2
3 3
1 2
2 3
3 1
1 3
2 1
3 2

Table 4 - Selected process parameters and their levels

Levels of factors
S. No Process parameter Units
1 2 3
0
1 Temperature C 0 -25 -50
2 Orientation Degrees 0 45 90
3 Crosshead velocity mm/min 3 5 7
Table 5 – Chemical composition of pure copper (annealed)

Element Cu Zn Pb Bi Ag
Weight (%) 99.2 0.9 0.0010 0.0006 0.006

Table 6 – Grey relational generation of each performance characteristics

Temperature Orientation % Elongation

Run No.
Higher the better Higher the better Smaller the better
Ideal sequence 1 1 1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9