On comparative evaluation of accuracy, repeatability and reproducibility of laser micromachining systems

Although laser structuring and texturing have attracted the attention of research communities and industry as emerging viable technologies for surface functionalisation and micro-manufacturing, their implementation in practice requires a very high precision. Any small deviation from the nominal dimensions may lead to substandard components and products, especially a mismatch with their technical requirements and the functionalities envisaged in their designs. Therefore, a systematic investigation of key component technologies in the beam delivery sub-systems of laser micromachining platforms is required in order to quantify their contributions to the overall process uncertainty, particularly in terms of positional accuracy and repeatability in regards to their technical specifications. In this context, the aim of the research was to evaluate the capabilities of state-of-the-art laser processing systems that were specially designed and implemented for laser micro structuring and texturing. An empirical comparative study was conducted to quantify the contributions of key component technologies of four state-of-the-art systems towards their accuracy, repeatability and reproducibility (ARR), and thus to assess the capabilities of their optical and mechanical axes when they were utilised separately or in combination for precision laser surface structuring/texturing.