Semi-Empirical Modeling of Laser Micro-Drilling on Aluminium 6061 Alloy for Prediction of Geometrical Features

Laser micro-hole drilling is one of the non–conventional processes performed across various industries for different purposes and materials. In this research work, an experimental investigation of laser micro-drilling on Aluminium alloy Al 6061 was carried out using a fiber laser source, which work under different conditions to produce 0.4 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.8 mm and 1.0 mm hole diameters. For producing these micro holes through laser micro-machining, input parameters such as laser power, laser pulse frequency, scanning speed were chosen and finding out the output responses such as geometrical features of the hole and surface roughness. The geometrical features considered were circularity error and the taper angle. Variations in the input responses were carried out at different levels in order to study the characteristics of the hole formed i.e., how various input parameters affect the circularity, taper angle and surface roughness. In addition, the surface morphology of the machined holes along the walls of the surface was analysed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Semi-empirical modelling was used for modelling the geometrical features such that the predicted values and the actual measured experimental values showed a statistical significance error less than 6% which proved the experiment carried out is significant.