An Expert System for Metal Powder Selection Using Vp-expert

A part of a complete expert system for powder technology is presented. This part of the system deals with the powder selection according to predetermined recommended or required material properties, and specific powder characteristics. Then, determining the most common powder production (i.e. processing) method, which satisfies the specified powder requirements for a specific application. For this purpose a detailed functional prototype expert system is developed using a rule-based knowledge representation model. The expert system is designed to acquire knowledge from the user then give recommendations. The inference engine, VP – Expert, is used as the development tool. The forward and backward chain techniques are utilized, thus the reverse process is also be possible. Therefore, the system will determine or assign some primary powder characteristics and production method to satisfy or achieve the required product and vice versa. The developed expert system is flexible, easy to be implemented, modified, and extended. The system displayed excellent performance and typical illustrative examples are shown. KEYWORD: EXPERT SYSTEM, METAL POWDER SELECTION, VP-EXPERT SYSTEM