Modular implementation of artificial neural network in predicting in-flight particle characteristics of an atmospheric plasma spray process

This paper presents a modular implementation of an artificial neural network to model the atmospheric plasma spray process in predicting the in-flight particle characteristics from the input processing parameters. The in-flight particle characteristics influence the structure and properties of the thermal spray coating and, thus, are considered important parameters to comprehend, simulate and predict the manufacturing process. The modular implementation allows simplification of the optimized model structure with enhanced ability to generalise the network. As well, the underlying relationship between each of the output in-flight characteristics with respect to the input processing parameters is explored. Smaller networks are constructed that achieves better, or in some cases, similar results. The training process is found to be more robust and stable along with fewer fluctuations in the values of the network parameters. The networks also respond to the variations of the number of hidden layer neurons with some definite trend. The predictable trend enhances reliability of the application of the artificial neural network in modelling the atmospheric plasma spray process and overcomes the variability and nonlinearity associated with the process. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.