Investigation and modelling of hybrid laser-waterjet micromachining of single crystal SiC wafers using response surface methodology

A hybrid laser-waterjet micromachining technology was proposed to implement near damage-free and high-efficient micromachining of thermal-sensitive hard and brittle materials. A new material removal concept was used where a waterjet is applied off-axially to expel the “softened” elemental material by laser radiation and cool the material to eliminate thermal damages during the material removal process. The present study investigates the effect of process parameters and their interaction on the cutting depth, cutting width and the material removal rate in the hybrid laser-waterjet micromachining of single crystal SiC wafers. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicates that waterjet inclination angle, waterjet offset distance, nozzle stand-off distance, traverse speed of hybrid cutting head, average laser power and waterjet pressure are the significant terms on cutting depth, cutting width as well as material removal rate. The quadratic backward-eliminated regression models are developed using response surface methodology (RSM). The models show that the material removal ability and the material removal rate increase with the increased average laser power and decrease with the increased nozzle stand-off distance and waterjet pressure. Waterjet offset distance has a knee-point value on the machining results. Cutting depth and width decrease with the increased traverse speed of hybrid cutting head but material removal rate increases with the increased traverse speed when the traverse speed is smaller than a certain value. The turbulent water breaks down the laser optically and weakens its heating ability. The critical waterjet offset distance can also be changed since the interactive effect of the process parameters. The verification results show the models can perform predictions with acceptable errors. Moreover, as compared to laser dry ablation, the photographs of the machined surface and its 3D profile illustrate that hybrid laser-waterjet micromachining can obtain much deeper and wider groove with V-sharp cross-sectional profile. It can significantly reduce or even eliminate thermal damages such as heat-affected zone (HAZ) and re-solidified layer by using the hybrid laser-waterjet micromachining technology.