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

• An on-line coaxial monitoring system with an auxiliary illuminant was built.
• The weld pool, keyhole and heat-affected zone were observed clearly.
• Region growing algorithm and the Canny algorithm were applied.
• The weld width and penetration status in the welding processing can be monitored on-line.

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.