Parameters Optimization for Water Jet-assisted Laser Machining of Engineering Ceramics Using an Integrated Fuzzy Model and a Genetic Algorithm (GA)
F-L. Zhang, Y-X. Wang and J. Zhu
Water jet-assisted laser processing of engineering ceramics has obvious advantages. Its processing precision is high, the speed is fast, the acting force is small and the heat affected zone (HAZ) is small. But its processing parameters are many. To optimize the process parameters a hybrid method based on fuzzy logic theory and a genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed herein. Given the thickness of recast layer, this method can optimize the process parameters of laser machining engineering ceramics with a water jet. In this paper the fuzzy control model is established based on the theory and the experimental data. Given any set of processing parameters, this special fuzzy model can predict the thickness of the recast layer when water jet-assisted laser machining Al2O3. The mixing method was used to automatically determine the optimum parameter combination for the water jet-assisted laser machining of engineering ceramics. Based on the fuzzy model the optimization of machining parameters by a GA is proved to be effective by the study of laser machining of Al2O3 with a water jet assist. The results show that the process parameters optimized by this method are in good agreement with the experimental results. It is helpful to select process parameters according to different thicknesses of recast layer. When selecting the process parameters, the method has certain guiding significance for the compound machining with multiple process parameters.
Keywords: Nd:YAG laser, Al2O3, engineering ceramics, water jet-assisted laser processing, recast layer, process parameters, optimization, genetic algorithm (GA), mixing method