Grinding is a vital finishing process employed in the final stages of fabrication on hard materials. Surface grinding is applied to produce fine finish and accurate dimensions in components. Advanced materials like hybrid metal matrix composites (MMCs) require grinding to produce components with desired tolerances. The proper selection of grinding parameters like wheel speed, feed rate and depth of cut is essential to obtain the required finish. The paper discloses the application of grey relational analysis (GRA) to optimize the surface grinding characteristics of Al/SiC/Al2O3 composite. Grinding trials are designed using Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array and surface roughness is observed along with the tangential force as the quality characteristics. The approach of GRA is validated through confirmation experiments. Depth of cut is found to contribute more towards the observed responses than the other two factors.  

Keywords: Al/SiC/Al2O3 composite; Grey relational analysis; Optimization; grinding; Taguchi; Surface finish