Modelling and optimisation of a femtosecond laser micro-machining process for micro-hole array products

Femtosecond laser micro-drilling has progressed remarkably in recent years to become an essential tool for micro-hole drilling in many applications where the extreme high accuracy machining is required. This paper addresses the problem of finding optimal inspection policy in a femtosecond laser micro-machining process for micro-hole array products to improve successful rate of machined parts and hence to minimise the unit manufacturing cost. A solution algorithm is proposed based on particle swarm optimisation (PSO), and the simulation is used to provide better insight into the optimal solution. The numerical experiments and verification experiments which are conducted with different schemes illustrate the applicability and efficiency of the proposed approach.