Control of submerged arc weld penetration by radiographic means

Abstract

The application of real-time radiography for in-process weld quality evaluation is discussed. The advantages of this technique are on-line testing of weld penetration and the possibility of using this information for welding current control. The experimental system developed includes the arc welding unit, the welding manipulator, the real-time X-ray machine and the videorecording and computerized image processing units. In this system welding current can be remotely controlled during weld observation. The experimental results are demonstrated for the submerged arc welding process. In this process the welding pool is covered by a thick layer of welding flux and is therefore optically invisible. By using computer data on the grey levels of the weld images and their histogram distributions, the three-dimensional shape of the submerged arc pool can be recognized, image-digitized and analysed in real time at the rate of 30 frames per second. The depth of the welding pool which characterizes the weld penetration is a very important characteristic of the weld quality. This characteristic can be measured in real time and used for weld tracking and welding current control.