Ranking of carbon nanotube production methods via verbal decision analysis

• Main Author: Bolo, Kenneth O.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2016
• Subjects: Carbon nanotubes; Nanotubes; Tubes; Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2892
• Institution: De La Salle University

Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) are nanocarbon structures which have excellent properties and numerous potential applications. Numerous researches thus have been reported on the different technologies to produce carbon nanotubes. One of the tools that can be used in evaluating decision problems would be Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). For this study, a variant of Verbal Decision Analysis will be developed and applied to solve the decision problem regarding carbon nanotube production systems. Verbal Decision Analysis (VDA) is a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) tool that uses preferential information as a basis to induce a decision rule which can be used to rank the methods of carbon nanotube production in the given set of alternatives. In this study, a variant method of PACOM (Paired Compensation), which uses the Joint Ordinal Scale as a reference was used for the decision analysis. Other variations of the methodology were considered such as proposed [1] Quality addition and [2] Squared quality addition. An interactive VDA program was developed developed using the C programming language in order to automate the decision making process. The program was then used to demonstrate the proposed method with the domain experts in the ranking of carbon nanotube production. The ranking of alternatives obtained from JOS assisted PACOM, Quality Addition and Squared Quality Addition was compared side by side. Indication suggests that JOS assisted PACOM and Squared Quality Addition ranked a Pareto non-optimal alternative higher than that of Pareto optimal alternative. Laser ablation is unanimously the best method for Carbon Nanotube Production in this study. Arc discharge and carbon vapor deposition was either the second or third best method whereas High Pressure Carbon Monoxide is unanimously the worst method for the production of Carbon Nanotubes. Future studies will explore further the proposed modification on the VDA method reported in the literature.