A Study on Surface Quality of Laser Drilled Holes: Parametric Optimization Using Harmony Search Algorithm

Abstract

Abstract-Micro-machining of stainless steel is difficult in conventional machining process due to excessive heat generation and micro-structural changes. Hence, lasers have been widely used to localize the heat affected zone in order to control the micro-structural changes. However, the major difficulty arises while performing laser drilling is the formation of spatter which affects the quality of holes. The present study focuses on reduction of spatter area in CO 2 laser drilling of stainless steel using Taguchi method embedded with Harmony search algorithm. The influence of machining parameters such as flushing pressure, laser power and pulse frequency on spatter area has been studied through Analysis of variance (ANOVA). It has been observed that flushing pressure and pulse frequency are the most influencing factors on formation of spatter. Harmony search algorithm has been used to evaluate the optimal parametric setting that attempts to minimize spatter area.Index Terms-CO 2 laser, harmony search (HS) algorithm, laser drilling, spatter.