Results on process control for YAG steel welding Available to Purchase

This article presents our the results of the part of the European IPCIM Project related to online process control for steel welding of small to medium thickness. First the overall project is described. Then we present the set-up used for the evaluation of the process control during welding. A coaxial camera is used to measure characteristics from the image of the keyhole. A second camera is used to measure characteristics from the image of the melt pool. From a first set of trials, we evidence the correlation between the information coming from the coaxial vision of the keyhole and the penetration depth in partial penetration. In a second experiment related to the application case, a T-joint overlap welding, we demonstrate the possibility to control the penetration and the position of the laser beam from the centre of the joint, thanks to the measures coming from both sensors. We conclude the article by presenting future possibilities for combining the sensors.