Int.

Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials 52 (2015) 159164

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Int. Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/IJRMHM

Short communication

Optimization to develop multiple response hardness and compressive

strength of zirconia reinforced alumina by using RSM and GRA
S. Renold Elsen , T. Ramesh
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Trichy, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 1 May 2015
Received in revised form 8 June 2015
Accepted 15 June 2015
Available online 18 June 2015
Keywords:
Zirconia reinforced alumina
BoxBehnken design
Micro Vickers hardness
Compressive strength
Regression
Multi response optimization
Response Surface Methodology and Grey
Relational Analysis

a b s t r a c t
In this work the effect of powder forming process parameters of zirconia reinforced alumina composites on micro
hardness and compressive strength was studied. The weight percentages of zirconia added to alumina, compaction pressure and sintering temperature are the process parameters selected for this analysis. Using Box
Behnken technique in Response Surface Methodology (RSM), seventeen experimental runs are developed. The
sintering temperature and weight percentage of zirconia added to alumina are found to inuence the responses.
The inuencing parameters were identied by using analysis of variance and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA). The
regression model for both micro hardness and compressive strength are developed. The increasing amount of
zirconia added to alumina matrix is found to enhance the compressive strength of the composite and reduces
the hardness of composite. Also, multi response optimization to obtain higher hardness and compressive
strength are done using both RSM and GRA.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Zirconia reinforced alumina (ZTA) are ceramic composites that are
widely used for knee and hip joint prostheses [1] and as insert materials
in machining tools [2]. The wide spectrum of applications has created
more interest in the detailed study of the composite. To develop ZTA
composite with higher reliability and improved performance detailed
investigation of the various physical and mechanical characteristics is
required. The nal composite characteristics depend on the material
characteristics of the matrix, reinforcements and the fabrication
techniques. Material characteristics such as hardness, yield stress, endurance limit creep and resistance to crack growth can be predicted
from indentation studies [3]. ZTA composites prepared by 5, 10 and
20 wt.% of zirconia reinforced with alumina by powder processing
showed decreasing hardness. But, powder synthesized by colloidal processing showed decreasing hardness up to 10 wt.% and increased above
10 wt.% [4]. The powder injection molding process was used to prepare
ZTA composites with different binders and sintering temperature of
1400 C and 1600 C soaking time of 2 hours. A maximum hardened
value of 1582.4 HV was reported at the sintering temperature of
1600 C [5]. The ZTA composites, green bodies were sintered from
1475 C to 1575 C with a temperature increment of 25 C after the
slip casting process. The hardness value decreased from 1900 HV10
to 1785 HV10 for sintering temperature of 1425 C and 1575 C
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: renoldelsen@gmail.com (S.R. Elsen).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2015.06.007
0263-4368/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

respectively [6]. The hardness of pure alumina prepared by slip cast

exhibited highest hardness by sintering at 1400 C and 0.3 wt.% Al2O3doped and pure 3 mol% yttria-partially stabilized zirconia measured
maximum hardness at 1600 C sintering temperature [7]. The compressive strength under applied compressive load is related to the initiation
of micro cracking at pores and other microscopic defects in the ceramic
composites [8]. Compressed alumina particle of size 40 nm exhibited
severe plastic deformation and particle size of 120 nm yielded by brittle
failure when observed under transmission electron microscope (TEM)
by [9]. Flacher et al. reported the improved compressive strength of
alumina reinforced zirconia by the addition of zirconia [10]. Gang Liu
et al. used ice template method to produce 35% porous ZTA with a compressive strength of 81 MPa by [11]. ZTA ceramics of porous nature with
the maximum compressive strength of 26.87 MPa were obtained from
gel-casting method combined with inltration process [12]. The powder
forming technique is a simple and effective method to produce near net
shape products and is chosen in the study. By careful tailoring of powder
forming process parameters such as weight percentage of zirconia
added to alumina, compaction pressure and sintering temperature the
required properties can be achieved.
2. Materials and method
2.1. Process parameter selection and specimen preparation
The Al2O3 powders are blended in ball mill with yttria stabilized
zirconia ZrO2 powders with different weight ratios of (5, 10 and 15%)

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S.R. Elsen, T. Ramesh / Int. Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials 52 (2015) 159164

respectively without the addition of a binder. Then it is compacted into

green bodies in a 10 mm and 30 mm diameter circular cavity dies
separately for various pressure of 120, 140 and 160 MPa respectively.
The crystallite size of the starting powder was estimated from the
XRD pattern given in Fig. 1 to be 40 and 56 nm for alumina and zirconia
respectively. The cylindrical green compact was prepared with 10 mm
diameter 30 mm height and 30 mm diameter, 12 mm height respectively. The shrinkage initiates from 1100 C to 1150 C for alpha-alumina
and maximum density that is achieved at 1600 C is reported by previous literatures. So the initial temperature of 1200 C and 1600 C is
selected as the nal temperature level for ZTA composite. The green
bodies were sintered at temperatures of 1200 C, 1400 C and 1600 C
respectively based on the 17 runs generated by the BoxBehnken method. The rise in temperature per minute was kept as 5 C with a soaking
period of 4 h in a box furnace. Density, porosity and water absorption of
the ZTA composite fabricated by the same process parameter is
published elsewhere [13].
2.2. Compressive strength and micro hardness studies
The micro hardness study is carried out on a sample of 30 mm diameter and 10 mm height. The specimen surface is polished using
polishing machine with a diamond paste. The optical microscope was
used to observe the nished surface to avoid scratches and other
micro defects which may affect the results. Vickers micro hardness testing was carried out using WOLPERT WILSON Instrument Model 402
MVD facility as per ASTM C1327-08. Each specimen was tested at ve
different locations with a maximum load of 1 kgf force applied for 10 s
dwell time. The average hardness values obtained from the ve
locations were chosen as the response. The specimens of varying diameter from 9.8 to 7.2 mm and standard height of 12 mm were used for
uniaxial compression test ASTM C1424-10. The top and bottom surface
of the specimen is made parallel and polished on which the compressive
load is applied by universal testing machine TINIUS OLSEN 50 kN. The
compression test was carried out with a strain rate of 1 104 s 1
and digitalized outputs of each test were obtained which gives the
load to deformation plot. The specimens were prepared according to
the 17 experimental runs developed using BoxBehnken Technique
based on the control parameters and levels. The variables and levels
selected and corresponding mechanical characterization (responses)
that were analyzed are provided in Table 1.
3. Conformation of compressive strength and micro Vickers
hardness model by ANOVA

Table 1
Process design layout using Box Behnken design and test results.
Run Variables

Responses

Composition of Pressure Temperature Compressive Vickers hardness

strength
ZrO2 in Al2O3

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

CS

MVH

Wt.%

MPa

MPa

HV

10
15
5
10
15
5
10
10
15
5
10
10
10
5
15
10
10

100
130
130
160
100
160
130
130
160
100
130
130
130
130
130
100
160

1200
1200
1200
1200
1400
1400
1400
1400
1400
1400
1400
1400
1400
1600
1600
1600
1600

8.094853
12.80896
7.338466
9.073013
119.3591
71.9682
88.70822
96.85784
143.6895
88.27868
112.8129
113.4199
123.9988
237.514
292.054
283.753
264.161

122.93 25.
66 13.82
207.075 23.62
129.8 26.71
972.4 15.1
1170 62.93
1085 2.83
1056 40.79
1054.22 44
1127 21.69
1112 30.1
1019 23.8
1024.325 50.21
1934 17.7
1524 1.54
1676.4 11.6
1627.83 4

compressive strength of the composite. The compaction pressure

(B) has no inuence on the compressive strength of the composite
material.
The compressive strength model for compressive strength is considered signicant as the Model F-value is 138.06, also the probability of
the model created by noise is only 0.01 percentages. From the analysis
the weight percentage of zirconia in alumina (A), sintering temperature
(C) and sintering temperature2 (C2) was identied as signicant model
terms as the Prob N F values is less than 0.05. Also the Prob N F value for
sintering temperature is very minimal (b0.0001), so it is considered to
be the most inuential parameter of the three. The Lack of Fit F-value
of 83.52 in the model explains the insignicance of relative to the
pure error. Adequate precision of 46.027 suggests an adequate signal
so that the model can be employed to navigate the design space.
Similarly the predicted R-squared value of 0.9116 for the investigation
is in harmony with adjusted R-squared value of 0.98471. The signal to
noise ratio calculated by adequate precision is 37.181, which indicates
an adequate signal as it measures more than four. The empirical relation
in terms of coded factors and actual factors for compressive is given in
Eqs. (1) and (2)
CS 106:57 20:35A 130:02C 32:78C2 12:27AC:

The ANOVA that is used for the conformation study of compressive

strength is given in Table 2. From the analyzed model, composition
(A) and sintering temperature (C) are observed to inuence the

Fig. 1. XRD pattern of starting powders alumina and zirconia.

Table 2
ANOVA for response surface quadratic model compressive strength.
Source

Sum of square

DF

Mean square

F-value

p-Value
Prob b F

Model
AComposition
BPressure
CTemperature
AB
AC
BC
A2
B2
C2
Residual
Lack of Fit
Pure error
Cor total

1.49E5
4503.58
1.61
1.41E5
1.39
601.95
0.081
89.37
75.5
3441.53
840.6
827.39
13.21
1.50E5

9
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
7
3
4
16

16,579.58
4503.58
1.61
1.41E5
1.39
601.95
0.081
89.37
75.5
3441.53
120.09
275.8
3.3

138.06
37.5
0.013
1169.95
0.012
5.01
6.77E-4
0.74
0.63
28.66

83.52

b0.0001
0.0005
0.9109
b0.0001
0.9173
0.0602
0.98
0.4169
0.4539
0.0011

0.0005

Standard deviation:10.9583, R-squared:0.9943, mean:126.7249, adjusted Rsquared:0.9871, C.V. %:8.6473, predicted R-squared:0.9116, PRESS:13,258.9299,
adequate precision:37.181.

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161

Table 3
ANOVA for response surface quadratic model Vickers hardness.
Source

Sum of square

DF

Mean square

F-value

p-Value Prob b F

Model
AComposition
BPressure
CTemperature
AB
AC
BC
A2
B2
C2
Residual
Lack of Fit
Pure error
Cor total

5,032,364.484
85,114.22258
13.36445
4,867,863.023
6.5025
22,339.03891
14.8225
5692.576581
32.05958059
52,784.42603
6641.238606
6496.364106
144.8745
5,039,005.722

9
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
7
3
4
16

559,151.6093
85,114.22258
13.36445
4,867,863.023
6.5025
22,339.03891
14.8225
5692.576581
32.05958059
52,784.42603
948.7483723
2165.454702
36.218625

589.357121
89.7121145
0.0140864
5130.82622
0.00685377
23.5457995
0.01562322
6.00009101
0.03379145
55.6358541

59.7884294

b0.0001
b0.0001
0.9088
b0.0001
0.9363
0.0018
0.9040
0.0441
0.8593
b0.0001

0.00088

Standard deviation:30.8017, R-squared:0.9986, mean:978.78, adjusted R-squared:0.9969, C.V. %:3.1469, predicted R-squared:0.9793, PRES:104,168.1921, adequate
precision:75.269.

Compressive Strength (MPa)

310
248
186
124
62
0

1600.00
15.00

1520.00

13.00

1440.00

C: Temperature (C)

11.00

1360.00

9.00

1280.00

7.00
1200.00

5.00

A: composition (wt%)

Fig. 2. Compressive strength response plot based on the composition of zirconia and sintering temperature.

CS 933:8613:1Composition1:76Temperature 8:19  104 Temperature2

0:012Composition  Temperature:

4. Inuence of process parameter on compression strength and

micro hardness

2
The conformation study of Vickers hardness by ANOVA is given in
Table 3. The F-value of the micro Vickers hardness model was predicated by ANOVA to be 589.357121 which exhibit the signicance of the
model. The possibility of F-value this large that can occur due to noise
is 0.01 percentages. From the analysis Prob N F value smaller than 0.05
is found for the weight percentage of zirconia in alumina (A), sintering
temperature (C) combined effect of (A and C) and sintering
temperature2 (C2) which indicates the signicant model terms. The
compaction pressure (B) and other interaction terms have no inuence
on the micro Vickers hardness of the composite material. The predicted
R-squared value of 0.9793 is in agreement with an adjusted R-squared
value of 0.9969. The adequate precision value 75.269 measures the
signal to noise ratio, is greater than 4 is desirable and the model can
be used to navigate the design space. The Eq. (3) in terms of coded
factors and Eq. (4) with actual factors can be used to predict the
response to the provided levels of each factor.
MVH 1068:88102:68A 779:55C67:23  A  C157:88C2 :

MVH 12859:86 73:58composition 15:62Temperature0:067231

composition  Temperature 3:94  103 Temperature2 :

The coupled effect of the composition of zirconia and sintering

temperature on the compressive strength of the zirconia reinforced
alumina ceramic are shown in Fig. 2. The compressive strength is

Fig. 3. HR SEM image of ZTA sintered at 1200 C.

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S.R. Elsen, T. Ramesh / Int. Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials 52 (2015) 159164

addition of ZrO2 in the matrix causes the zirconia ions (Zr4+) to hinder
the grain boundary sliding of alumina [10]. Also, due to pinning effect
ZrO2 checks the grain growth of alumina during sintering which is
also a possible strengthening effect of the composite. Compressive
strength is enhanced from 7.33 MPa to 292.05 MPa for increasing
sintering temperature from 1200 C to 1600 C respectively. At
1200 C sintering temperature, more voids were observed (Fig. 3) and
also the grain boundary diffusion between the particles is minimal,
this causes immediate failure and minimal compressive strength. The
1400 C sintered sample has shown comparatively improved grain
boundary diffusion between the particles with voids (Fig. 4). Also higher
compressive strength was observed compared to 1200 C sintered samples. At 1600 C, proper grain boundary diffusion with few voids is observed as shown in Fig. 5. The collective effects of both weight
percentage of zirconia added to alumina and sintering temperature on
micro Vickers hardness of the zirconia that reinforced alumina ceramic
are given in Fig. 6. The sintering temperature is found to be the most inuential factor, and the hardness value increases with the increase in
temperature. This is due to the fact that 98% theoretical density with
less porosity is achieved at 1600 C. From the response plot, it is
observed that the hardness is increased from 96 HV at 1200 C to
1860 HV at 1600 C for 5 wt.% of zirconia added to alumina. The hardness value is found to be reduced by the addition of zirconia also
predicted by the response surface plot and similar behavior was reported by Arab et al. [14]. However, the hardness is decreased from 1860 HV
at 5 wt.% of zirconia to 1524 HV for 15 wt.% of zirconia at 1600 C by 18%.
The plot shows a gradual decrease in the response as the weight percentage of zirconia added to alumina factor is increased. The
composite prepared by the powder injection molding process with
95% theoretical density exhibited 1582.4 HV [5]. A maximum hardness
of 1934 HV has been achieved for 96.5% theoretical density of the nal
composite material.

Fig. 4. HR SEM image of ZTA sintered at 1400 C.

5. Optimization of process parameters using RSM and GRA

5.1. Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

Fig. 5. HR SEM image of ZTA sintered at 1600 C.

increased from 226 MPa to 302 MPa at 1600 C sintering temperature

with the addition of zirconia to alumina from 5 wt.% to 15 wt.% respectively by 33%. The increase in the composition of zirconia added to
alumina increases the compressive strength of the composite. The

Multi response optimization is done using Response Surface

Methodology (RSM), a widely accepted design of experiment method
and using Grey Relational Analysis. RSM is a statistical method used to
represent a phenomenon, assess the performance of any individual or
collective effect of factors on responses and also to optimize the factors
[15]. The constraints and the limits considered are given in Table 4. The
weight percentage of zirconia has a limit of 5 to 15 percentages, a

Micro Vickers Hardness (Hv)

1860.5

1419.38

978.25

537.125

96

1600.00

15.00
1520.00

13.00
1440.00

11.00
1360.00

C: Temperature (C)

9.00
1280.00

7.00
1200.00

A: composition (wt%)

5.00

Fig. 6. Interaction effects of composition and temperature on micro hardness.

S.R. Elsen, T. Ramesh / Int. Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials 52 (2015) 159164
Table 4
Constraints and limits for compressive strength and Vickers micro hardness.
Constraints

163

Table 7
Response table for Grey relational grade.

Limits

Name

Goal

Lower limit

Upper limit

A: Composition
B: Compaction pressure
C: Temperature
Compressive strength
Vickers hardness

Is in range
Is in range
Is in range
Maximum
Maximum

5 (wt.% of zirconia)
100 MPa
1200 C
292.054 (MPa)
1934 (HV)

15 (wt.% of zirconia)
160 MPa
1600 C

Process parameter

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Range (maximumminimum value)
Order

0.537241
0.53939*
0.523843
0.015547
2

0.53903*
0.53733
0.526566
0.010764
3

0.338162
0.477832
0.841994*
0.503832
1

* indicates the optimal levels of the process parameter.

Table 8
Comparison of conrmation experiments with the results.
Table 5
Optimized value for responses and highest value of desirability.
Process parameter

Response
C

Compressive
strength

Micro Vickers
hardness

MPa

MPa

HV

100.001

1600

292.054

1623.828

Wt.%
11.815

Exp. no

Desirability

0.912

indicates that the factor compaction pressure has no effect on the response.

compaction pressure of 100 MPa to 160 MPa and sintering temperature

1200 C to 1600 C are taken and goals were set for maximum compressive strength and Vickers hardness. The predicted process parameter of
11.815 wt.% of zirconia added to alumina, 100.001 MPa pressure
and 1600 C sintering temperature for a maximum response was
292.054 MPa, compressive strength and 1623.828 Vickers Hardness
with desirability of 0.898 from the optimized results (Table 5). The
factor compaction pressure has no effect on the response which is due
to insufcient magnitude of pressure. The same effect is predicted by
ANOVA that the pressure has no inuence.

1
2
3

Compressive strength (MPa)

Vickers hardness (HV)

Obtained

Predicated

Error

Obtained

Predicated

Error

273.0705
276.0202
264.0168

292.054
292.054
292.054

6.5%
5.49%
9.6%

1575.113
1581.608
1560.499

1623.83
1623.83
1623.83

3%
2.6%
3.9%

by using the higher the better condition is given by Eqs. (5) and (6).
NCSi

CSi minCSi
:
maxCSi minCSi

NMVHi

MVHi minMVHi
:
maxMVHi minMVHi

The oi(CS) and oi(MVH) are the deviation sequence of the

reference sequence N(CS) and N(MVH) respectively given by
Eqs. (7) and (8).
oi CS 1NCSi :

oi MVH 1NMVHi :

5.2. Grey Relational Analysis

The Grey analysis is used to characterize the grade of correlation inbetween two sequences to measure the space between two factors.
Grey Relation Analysis is a useful method to analyze the correlation
between sequences with minimal data where experiments are time
consuming and expensive [16]. It can also analyze multiple factors,
which are the disadvantages of statistical method. In the Grey relational
generating process the responses are normalized in the range of 0 and 1

Grey relational coefcient is determined to assess the association of

the ideal with actual normalized experimental responses. The Grey
relation coefcient i(CS) and i(MVH) for the ith experiment can be
expressed as and are given by Eqs. (9) and (10).
i CS

oi CSmin oi CSmax
:
oi CS oi CSmax

i MVH

oi MVHmin oi MVHmax
:
oi MVH oi MVHmax

10

Table 6
Calculated normalized value Grey relational co-efcient, grade values and rank of process design layout.
Run

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

Composition of ZrO2 in Al2O3

Pressure

Temperature

Reference sequence

Deviation sequence

GRC after
weighted

(Wt.% of ZrO2)

(MPa)

(C)

N(CS)

N(MVH)

oi(CS)

oi(MVH)

CS

MVH

2
3
1
2
3
1
2
2
3
1
2
2
2
1
3
2
2

1
2
2
3
1
3
2
2
3
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
3

1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3

0.00266
0.01921
0
0.00609
0.39345
0.227
0.28579
0.31442
0.4789
0.28428
0.37046
0.37259
0.40974
0.80844
1
0.97084
0.90203

0.05204
0
0.11086
0.06109
0.60407
0.72851
0.67647
0.66063
0.6086
0.71041
0.66968
0.67647
0.6629
1
0.81448
0.9095
0.89367

0.99734
0.98079
1
0.99391
0.60655
0.773
0.71421
0.68558
0.5211
0.71572
0.62954
0.62741
0.59026
0.19156
0
0.02916
0.09797

0.947964
1
0.88914
0.938914
0.395928
0.271493
0.323529
0.339367
0.391403
0.289593
0.330317
0.323529
0.337104
0
0.18552
0.090498
0.106335

0.3339
0.3377
0.3333
0.3347
0.4519
0.3928
0.4118
0.4217
0.4897
0.4113
0.4427
0.4435
0.4586
0.7230
1.0000
0.9449
0.8362

0.3402
0.3333
0.3510
0.3411
0.4927
0.5501
0.5238
0.5155
0.5149
0.5365
0.5319
0.5051
0.5066
1.0000
0.6949
0.7838
0.7531

GRG

Rank

0.3371
0.3355
0.3422
0.3379
0.4723
0.4714
0.4678
0.4686
0.5023
0.4739
0.4873
0.4743
0.4826
0.8615
0.8475
0.8644
0.7946

16
17
14
15
10
11
13
12
5
9
6
8
7
2
3
1
4

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S.R. Elsen, T. Ramesh / Int. Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials 52 (2015) 159164

The is distinguished or identication coefcient in this work is 0.5

because all of the responses were given equal weight. The average of the
Grey relational coefcient is the Grey relational grade given by Eq. (11).
i

n
1X
f CS i MVHg:
n i1 i

11

The largest Grey relation grade is chosen as an optimal process

parameter setting for the experiment which corresponds to the 16
run. From the performed GRA Table 6 the process parameters' setting
of experiment number 16 has the highest Grey relational grade. Based
on the Grey relational grade values, the optimal parameter for maximum compressive strength and Vickers hardness was obtained from
1600 C sintering temperature (level 3), 10 wt.% of zirconia in alumina
(level 2), and 100 MPa compaction pressure (level 1) combination.
The order of importance of the process parameter to the multi response
characteristics in the process parameter, in sequence is given in Table 7
as: factor C (sintering temperature), which was the most dominant process parameter factor A (weight percentage of zirconia in alumina) and
B (compaction pressure) i.e. 0.503833 N 0.015547 N 0.010764. ANOVA
also predicted the similar effect of process parameter on the response.
The optimal levels of the three process parameters are the weight
percentage of zirconia added to alumina at level 2 (10 wt.%), compaction pressure at level 1 (100 MPa) and nally sintering temperature at
level 3 (1600 C). Similar prediction were also observed from optimization done using RSM.
6. Conformation studies
Three conformation experimental runs were conducted for the
optimal predicted process parameter predicted by using RSM. Three
experimental procedures were repeated and the test was conducted
as mentioned previously. The obtained value is found to have a good
agreement with the predicted value and the estimated error is between
5.49 and 9.6% for compressive strength (Table 8). The Vickers hardness
error values are found between 4 and 2.6% which are minimal.
7. Conclusion
The mechanical characteristic studies such as compressive strength
and micro Vickers hardness of ZTA composite prepared by powder
forming process were analyzed in this work.
The factors which inuence the response and the optimization of the
process parameters were identied and compared by using ANOVA,
Grey Relational Analysis methods.
The results showed that the temperature is the most inuential factor
in the selected design space, which improves the compressive
strength and Vickers hardness of the composite followed by composition of zirconia added to alumina.
With raise in sintering temperature from 1200 C to 1600 C, there is a
good improvement in the compressive strength and hardness due to
minimal porosity and good grain boundary diffusion at 1600 C.
The increase in weight percentage of zirconia in alumina matrix from
5 to 15 has increased the compressive strength by 33% and reduced
the micro hardness of the composite by 18%.

The factor compaction pressure showed no inuence on the responses

because the magnitude of the applied pressure is insufcient to cause
any microstructural change in the composite.
The optimum process parameters of 11.815 wt % (A), 100 MPa (B) and
1600 C (C) are obtained from RSM.
Also, optimization is done to obtain higher compressive strength and
hardness using RSM and GRA and conformation experimental runs
are conducted and the results with validated least error.

Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank Dr. P. Senthil, Assistant Professor, Production Engineering, NIT Trichy for extending the micro Vickers hardness
facility to carry out the tests which were procured by funding project
reference No (SR/FT/ET-033/2009).

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