Coaxial monitoring of the fibre laser lap welding of Zn-coated steel sheets using an auxiliary illuminant

Abstract

In the laser welding process, weld defects are often caused by many factors, such as variations in the laser power, welding speed and gaps between two workpieces. In an auto-welding system, the on-line monitoring of the welding quality is very important in avoiding weld defects. In this paper, an on-line coaxial monitoring system with an auxiliary illuminant was built for the fibre laser welding of galvanised steel; images of the weld pool were taken during the welding process. Profiles of the weld pool and the keyhole were obtained by processing the images using the region-growing algorithm and the Canny algorithm. In this research, we used the on-line monitored weld pool width to monitor the weld surface width. The weld penetration status was divided into the three categories of incompletely penetrated, moderately penetrated and over-penetrated using the value of d (diameter at the bottom of the keyhole)/D (diameter at the top of the keyhole). Thus, the weld width and weld penetration status of fibre laser welding can be monitored on-line.