Development of an intuitionistic fuzzy ranking model for nontraditional machining processes

Abstract

Nontraditional machining processes (NTMPs) are capable of processing very small parts, producing intricate geometries, operating on very narrow machining areas and machining high strength materials. These capabilities lead to a very diverse and large application area for NTMPs. Such a diverse and large application area along with more than one hundred NTMPs requires development of systematic and comprehensive models to help manufacturing engineers in their NTMP selection decisions. Furthermore, fuzzy models instead of crisp ones are being used in the literature in recent years to represent preferences of decision makers more realistically. This study proposes intuitionistic and triangular fuzzy NTMP ranking models and compares their ranking results with the crisp ranking model. The comparisons show that there are statistically significant differences among all three ranking models' NTMP ranking results.