Real time weld quality monitoring of laser welded blanks – Weld profile monitoring Available to Purchase

It has been found that the geometry of weld cross-sections influences the formability of tailor welded blanks significantly. The primary defects associated with most weld failures during stamping are top concavities and convexities, root concavities, lack of fusion, pinholes, and porosity. Most weld quality monitoring devices, such as plasma monitoring systems, pinhole detecting systems, and acoustic monitoring systems are sensitive to lack of fusion, lack of penetration, no weld, and unstable welds. Weld concavities and convexities are hard to be determined by the above devices. Based on the results of this paper, a visual inspection system that provides real time weld quality monitoring by scanning weld cross-sectional profiles can determine the quality of laser welded blanks. The primary objective of this research is to develop a method that focuses on determining weld concavities and convexities during welding process and to correlate the formability of a weld to its cross-sectional profile. Using the weld profile monitoring technology, weld concavity and convexity can be detected easier.