Water-Jet Guided Laser Cutting Technology- an Overview Vitus M. Tabie 1 & Majeed O. Koranteng 1 & Adams Yunus 1 & Frederick Kuuyine 1 Accepted: 17 April 2019/ # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Water-jet guided laser cutting technology is a relatively new technology, which utilizes a water jet and laser beam (pulsed Nd: YAG laser) to cut. The technology is able to cut with high precision without blurs. It also produces less heat and pollution at the cutting zone, unlike conventional machining. This article reviews the char- acteristics of this new technology and its usage in laser material processing. Apart from cutting speed and laser power which are common parameters that affect most lasers technologies, water-jet pressure and properties of the water used were cited to have effect on the cut quality. Mathematical model and simulation results from literature observed that, decreasing the cooling effect of water-jet improves cutting process. Similarly, nozzle geometry also affect on the cut quality since it relates to the water-jets pressure and velocity. The current review does not however consider the effect of pressure of the water which affect the refractive index and in effect the wave-guide phenomenon. Nonetheless, a comparison between the water-jet and conventional laser technologies is discussed herein and the article concluded by highlighting some of the most exciting recent developments, the technical difficul- ties and the future development trends of the technology. Keywords Laser . Laser cutting . Water-jet . Laser material processing Nomenclature ε Emissivity σ Stefan-Boltzmann constant (5.67 × 10 -8 W/m 2 K 4 ) Nu Nusselt number l Character length (m) λ Liquid conduction coefficient (W/m 2 K) Pr Prandtl number Lasers in Manufacturing and Materials Processing https://doi.org/10.1007/s40516-019-00089-9 * Vitus M. Tabie 5103170360@stmail.ujs.edu.cn 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Wa Polytechnic, Wa, Ghana