Water jet guided laser overcomes the adverse effects of conventional laser cutting and drilling processes, such as heat-affected-zone, spatter, burr formation, etc. Pressurized water in this novel process provides focusing, cooling and cleaning on the cut region, eliminating undesired side effects of the laser. The process is nowadays used in energy and aerospace industries for drilling micro cooling holes on turbine blades made of super alloys. However, more research on the process is required to understand the effects of the variables on cutting time and quality. Optimum conditions differ for various materials and geometries. In this study, a multi objective optimization is performed in terms of process time and taper of the micro holes drilled on Inconel 718, a commonly used material in gas turbines. Taguchi design of experiment and statistical analysis is used to perform the experiments and evaluate the results.
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