Pulsed PDF
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Pulsed PDF
Abstract
The present study investigates the relationship of processes parameters of pulsed Nd:YAG laser-turning operation for production of
micro-groove on cylindrical workpiece of ceramic material. A microprocessor-based work holding device has been developed to provide
the rotational motion of cylindrical work pieces for micro-turning operation. Laser turning of micro-grooves on ceramics is highly
demanded in the present industry because of its wide and potential uses in various elds such as automobile, aerospace and bio-medical
engineering applications, etc. Experiments have been conducted on laser micro-grooving of aluminum oxide (Al2O3). The central
composite second-order rotatable design (CCD) had been utilized to plan the experiments and response surface methodology was
employed for developing empirical models. Analysis on machining characteristics of pulsed Nd:YAG laser micro-grooving operation was
made based on the developed models. In this study, lamp current, pulse frequency, pulse width, assist air pressure and cutting speed of
work piece are considered as laser machining process parameters. The process performances such as upper deviation (Yuw), lower
deviation (Ylw) and depth (Yd) characteristics of laser-turned micro-grooves produced on cylindrical work piece made of Al2O3 were
evaluated. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test had also been carried out to check the adequacy of the developed regression empirical
models. The observed optimal process parameter settings are lamp current of 22.517 A, pulse frequency of 1.477 kHz, pulse width of
2.394% of duty cycle, cutting speed of 10.4283 rpm and assist air pressure of 1.3 kgf/cm2 for achieving minimum upper deviation, lower
deviation and depth of laser-turned micro-grooves, and nally the results were experimentally veried. From the analysis, it was found
that proper control of the process parameters lead to achieve minimum upper deviation, lower deviation and depth of laser-turned microgrooves produced on cylindrical workpiece of Al2O3.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Pulsed Nd:YAG laser; Laser turning; Micro-groove; Aluminum (Al2O3)
1. Introduction
Due to the hardness and brittleness properties of most
ceramic materials, conventional mechanical-type machining process results in signicant amount of tool wear with
high manufacturing cost. However, laser machining is a
promising non-contact machining process for effective
machining of difcult-to-process advanced ceramics [1,2].
In laser machining a single laser beam pocket-turning
technique is used to remove the volume of material through
selective melting and vaporizing. Increasing interest in the
use of lasers for manufacturing can be attributed to several
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 33 24146153; fax: +91 33 24137121.
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237
n
X
i1
bi X iu
n
X
i1
bii X 2iu
n
X
bij X iu X iu eu ,
(1)
ioj
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L
A
S
E
R
COOLING SYSTEM
CCD
Nd:YAG ROD
CCTV
Kr ARC LAMP
1 2 3
LASER HEAD
1.
2.
3.
4.
6.
7.
C
O
N
T
R
O
L
L
E
R
EXPANDER
FRONT MIRROR (80% REFLECTIVITY)
INTER CAVITY APERTURE
SAFETY SHUTTER
5. Q SWITCH
INTER CAVITY APERTURE
REAR MIRROR (100% REFLECTIVITY)
X-Y-Z CNC
CONTROLER
REGULATER
AIR/GAS
WORKPIECE
HOLDER
CO-AXIAL NOZZLE
STEPPER
CONTROLLER
WORKPIECE
FIXTURE
TABLE
terms b0, bi, bii and bij are the regression coefcients and
the residual, eu measures the experimental error of the uth
observations.
The range of air pressure, lamp current, pulse frequency,
pulsed width and cutting speed setting have been selected
after performing some pilot experiments. Actual and coded
values of the process parameters have been listed in
Table 2. Experiments have been carried out according
to the experimental plan based on central composite
rotatable second-order design (CCRD). The CCRD consists of 2K fractional factorial points with six center points
and 10 star points [15]. Design of experiment matrix
showing coded values of the process parameters is shown in
Table 3. Upper width, lower width and depth of the
machined micro-grooves were measured at 10 magnication with the help of optical measuring microscope
(Olympus STM6). SEM micrographs of laser-turned
micro-grooves have also been taken for further analysis.
The response criterion such as upper deviation (Yuw), lower
deviation (Ylw) and depth (Yd) in mm has been calculated
as follows:
Y uw Y auw Y tuw ,
(2)
Y lw Y alw Y tlw ,
(3)
Y d Y ad Y td
(4)
FIXTURE
STEPPER
MOTOR
LASER DELIVERY
SYSTEM
WORKPIECE
CNC TABLE
WORK HOLDING
DEVICE
Fig. 2. Photographic view of the developed work piece holding and
rotating device.
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Table 1
Properties of alumina (Al2O3)
Properties
Melting temperature
Creep rate
Density
Specic heat
Activation energy
Thermal conductivity
Tensile strength
Thermal diffusivity
Bulk modulus
Shear modulus
Grain size
2050 1C
109 s1 at 150 Mpa
3.984 g/cm3
755 J/kg K
325(25) kJ/mol
33 W/mK
267 MPa
0.111 cm2/s
257 GPa
167 GPa
5 mm
200m
200m
200m
Air pressure
Lamp current
Pulse frequency
Pulse width
Cutting speed
Unit
kg/cm2
A
kHz
%
rpm
Symbol
X1
X2
X3
X4
X5
Levels
2
1
0.3
13
1
2
7
0.8
16
2
4
12
1.3
19
3
6
17
1.8
22
4
8
22
2.3
25
5
10
27
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Table 3
Design of experiments matrix of coded values of process parameters and observed responses
Coded values
Responses
Exp no.
A/P X1
L/C X2
P/F X3
P/W X4
C/S X5
Upper deviation, mm
Lower deviation, mm
Depth deviation, mm
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.00919
0.03016
0.00800
0.01980
0.00440
0.00990
0.01200
0.00480
0.02470
0.01100
0.03094
0.03450
0.02000
0.00830
0.02100
0.00040
0.02020
0.00790
0.00260
0.00150
0.02750
0.01550
0.00966
0.00190
0.06120
0.00550
0.00060
0.00900
0.02450
0.00990
0.00500
0.00620
0.00825
0.03116
0.00720
0.02050
0.00080
0.01595
0.00840
0.00550
0.03500
0.00100
0.03100
0.04100
0.02500
0.01384
0.04950
0.02020
0.00980
0.03020
0.03020
0.02020
0.03100
0.02650
0.03000
0.01100
0.02584
0.06620
0.02150
0.02004
0.01450
0.02770
0.01610
0.01550
0.01000
0.03700
0.01000
0.01050
0.00190
0.00230
0.00500
0.00200
0.07350
0.02000
0.07400
0.04357
0.03800
0.01000
0.05370
0.01100
0.03600
0.02800
0.02800
0.02010
0.01050
0.03500
0.02250
0.00300
0.00450
0.08050
0.01000
0.01300
0.02000
0.02100
0.01020
0.02000
(A/P: air pressure, P/F: pulse frequency, L/P: lamp current, P/W: pulsed width, C/S: cutting speed).
Table 4
Results of analysis of variance for upper deviation, lower deviation and
depth
Source
Upper deviation
Lower deviation
Depth
F-value
P-value
F-value
P-value
F-value P-value
0.004
0.000
0.037
0.919
4.29
13.75
1.51
0.95
0.008
0.000
0.265
0.531
14.54
50.69
2.67
2.40
0.000
0.000
0.081
0.083
0.528
2.78
0.141
2.80
0.139
Regression
5.04
Linear
15.81
Square
3.56
Interaction
0.40
Residual error
Lack-of-t
0.96
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0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02
-2
-1
0
Pulse frequency (kHz)
241
-1
-2
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0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02
-2
-1
-1
0
Pulse width (% of duty cycle)
-2
0
Lamp current (amp)
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
-0.005
-0.01
2
2
1
0
Air pressure (kgf/sq. cm)
1
0
-1
-1
-2
-2
cutting speed. The cutting speed of the workpiece has nonlinear effect on upper deviation at different air pressure.
5.2. Analysis of parametric influences on lower deviation of
laser-turned micro-groove
Producing precise lower width in laser-turned microgroove is very difcult and the deviation of machined lower
width depends on the pulsed Nd:YAG laser machining
process parameters during micro-grooving operation. The
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0.09
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
-2
-1
-1
-2
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
-0.01
-0.02
-2
-1
243
-1
-2
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0.04
0.035
0.03
0.025
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
-0.005
-0.01
0
Air pressure (kgf/sq.cm)
-1
-1
-2
Fig. 10. Effect of cutting speed and air pressure on lower deviation.
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0.1
0.08
Depth (mm)
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02
-0.04
-2
-1
-1
0
Lamp current (amp)
-2
0.12
0.1
Depth (mm)
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02
-0.04
-2
-1
-1
1
Pulse width (% of duty cycle)
-2
0
Lamp current (amp)
surface plot reects that the pulse width has less effect on
depth at different lamp currents. The lamp current has
greater effect on the depth of the micro-groove. At medium
value of lamp current, the depth is less as compared with
low lamp current. At low pulse width and moderately high
lamp current, the deviation is almost zero. At high pulse
width the peak power of the laser beam for penetration is
comparatively less. Due to the less effective energy for
penetration, the upper surface is heated rapidly and the
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0.04
0.03
Depth (mm)
0.02
0.01
0
-0.01
-0.02
-2
-1
-1
0
Air pressure (kgf/sq.cm)
1
2
-2
0
Cutting Speed (rpm)
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Fig. 14. Multi-objective optimization results for minimum upper deviation, lower deviation and depth of micro-groove.
Table 5
RSM-based optima parametric settings for upper and lower width and
depth of micro-groove
Parameters
Units
Multi-optimal
parameter setting
upper width, lower
width and depth
Lamp current
Pulse frequency
Pulse width
Air pressure
Cutting speed
amp
kHz
%
kgf/cm2
rpm
22.517
1.477
2.394
0.9228
10.4283
Table 6
Experimental validations of developed models for responses with optimal
parameter settings
Responses Targeted output
(mm)
Upper
width
Lower
width
Depth
0.2
0.2061
0.89
0.2
0.1891
1.09
0.2
0.2025
0.61
Fig. 15. (a) Upper end view of SEM micrograph of micro-groove turned
at optimal parametric setting; (b) lower end view of SEM micrograph of
micro-groove turned at optimal parametric setting.
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7. Conclusions
Pulsed Nd:YAG laser-turning operation has been
investigated based on experimentation and developed
empirical models to generate micro-groove on cylindrical
workpiece of aluminum oxide ceramic with the aid of
developed micro-processor-controlled work holding and
rotating device. The laser process parameters for microgroove turning are optimized effectively for minimizing the
multi-responses i.e. upper width deviation, lower width
deviation and depth deviation. The empirical models for
determining upper deviation, lower deviation and depth
deviation phenomena from the target is adequate for the
selected range of laser-machining parameters setting and
can be utilized to achieve precisely desired dimension of
laser-turned micro-grooves on aluminum oxide.
From the response plots, it has been observed that, the
upper deviation of the laser-turned micro-groove varies
with the lamp current. The upper deviation is minimum at
medium level of lamp current with low pulse frequency. In
case of lower width, the minimum deviation occurred at
high lamp current i.e. 22 A and medium level of pulse
frequency. Medium level of the lamp current with
moderately high pulse frequency is more effective for
achieving minimum depth deviation. Cutting speed should
be higher for least upper width deviation. Low cutting
speed is recommended for minimum deviation in lower
width and depth for laser-turned micro-grooves. Pulse
width has less effect on upper deviation and depth and
moderate effect on lower width as compared with other
process parameters. Moderately high value of assist air
pressure is recommended for achieving lower deviation of
responses. Minimum upper deviation (Yuw), lower deviation (Ylw) and depth (Yd) are achieved at the parametric
setting of lamp current 22.517 A, pulse frequency
1.477 kHz, pulse width 2.394% of duty cycle, cutting speed
10.4283 rpm and air pressure of 0.9238 kgf/cm2.
The research ndings along with various empirical
relationships will provide effective guideline to select
parameter settings for achieving desired micro-groove
during laser micro-turning operations. This research work
will open up further scope to study the cut surface quality
and integrity for utilizing laser micro-groove turning more
effectively. The present research work on pulsed Nd:YAG