Advances in pulsed laser weld monitoring by the statistical analysis of reflected light

This paper describes two new techniques for monitoring the quality of laser welds by statistical analysis of the reflected light signal from the weld surface. The first technique involves an algorithm that analyses the variance of the peak values of the reflected signal as a measure of the stability of the surface during pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding in the heat conduction mode. Kalman filtering is used to separate a useful signal from the background noise. A good correlation between weld disruption and signal fluctuation has been identified. This technique could be used in tandem with the present practice of simply using the peak values of reflected (or emitted) light as an indicator of weld quality. The second technique investigated involves an assessment of the temporal shape of the power distribution of individual reflected pulses in comparison with an average of the results from a high quality weld. Once again a high correlation between a poor signal match and inferior quality welding was discovered, which may pave the way towards a new generation of optical weld monitoring devices.

► Described two new techniques for monitoring the quality of laser welds by statistical analysis of the reflected light.
► Can be used in tandem with existing methods.
► Good correlations have been found between signal shape and weld disruptions.