Exploring the effects of chemical composition in hot rolled steel product using Mahalanobis distance scale under Mahalanobis–Taguchi system

Classification of hot rolled steel product from the point of view of reaching the target mechanical property, based on chemical composition of the steel, is a common objective practiced in the industrial rolling mill. After examining the ability of measurement scale of Mahalanobis–Taguchi system in classifying the steel plate as “OK” or “Diverted”, study on the changing nature of Mahalanobis distance, obtained from previous work, with the corresponding increments in the chemical composition over their respective working ranges, is carried out in order to explain the behaviour of Mahalanobis distances from the knowledge of materials science. As the nature of Mahalanobis distance illustrated by the study does not contradict the subject knowledge, the robustness of the measurement scale used in Mahalanobis–Taguchi system is therefore established.