Measurement of the Molten Pool Image during Laser Cladding Process

Abstract

Laser cladding is mainly applied in components renovation, coating, stacking forming, etc. At present, the degree of automation of laser cladding is not very high. Machine vision technology is gradually becoming a good approach to improve the automaticity. Utilizing machine vision to measure and control the molten pool to improve the degree of automation of laser cladding has become an important research interest. Clear image of molten pool was acquired with the appropriate image grabbing installation system and together with image processing methods, the area of molten pool was calculated. Analyzed variation of molten pool area as the processing parameters changed. Discussed variation of geometry of cross section of cladding bead. Explained the relationship between variation of the molten pool areas and cross section of cladding bead, according to the captured image of molten pool. When molten pool increases, it can capture more metal powder, so area of cross section of cladding bead will increase correspondingly. With appropriate processing parameters, the areas of molten pool and cross section of cladding bead are in positive correlation. Keywords-laser cladding; molten pool; image processing;