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Optics and Lasers in Engineering 45 (2007) 10051009 www.elsevier.com/locate/optlaseng

Real-time monitoring of laser welding by correlation analysis: The case of AA5083

` a,b T. Sibillanoa,b,, A. Anconaa, V. Berardia,b, P.M. Lugara
a

CNR-INFM LIT3-Laboratorio Regionale di Ricerca, Formazione, Sviluppo e Trasferimento alle Imprese di Tecnologie Laser Innovative via Orabona 4, I-70126 Bari, Italy b ` di Bari e Politecnico di Bari, via Orabona 4, I-70126 Bari, Italy Dipartimento Interuniversitario di Fisica, Universita Received 22 March 2007; received in revised form 17 April 2007; accepted 18 April 2007 Available online 3 July 2007

Abstract In this study, we present an innovative real-time laser welding monitoring technique employing the correlation analysis of the plasma plume optical spectra generated during the process. In order to look for a relationship between optical signals and welds quality, the inuence of the experimental conditions on the correlation plots are also investigated. The correlation analysis results allow to evaluate the quality of the welds, through an on-line detection of common defects, such as oxidation or lack of penetration, with an excellent spatial resolution. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Laser welding; Optical spectroscopy; Correlation analysis; Aluminum alloys

1. Introduction Many systems for on-line monitoring of the laser welding quality process have been developed in recent years [1,2]. The spectroscopic analysis of the plasma is a widely used technique, especially in an industrial environment [35]. Plasma emission spectrum generated during laser welding process is characterized by the presence of numerous emission lines, whose features suggest relevant information about the process [6]. Several parameters can be investigated from the spectroscopic characterization of the plasma plume and in the last years a lot of studies have demonstrated that there is a clear relationship between those parameters and the quality of the welded joints. In this work, the detection of the weld defects on the weld seam is achieved by real-time application of the covariance mapping technique. By means of this technique we are able

to analyze the dynamics of the spectrum and to detect local weld defects. 2. The covariance mapping technique (CMT) The CMT is based on the calculus of the autocorrelation of spectrum with the aim to nd a relationship between different regions of the spectrum itself. In our previous works [7,8] we employed the CMT as a tool for providing signicant details about the composition of the plasma, relating the dynamical evolution of the plasma to the quality of the welded joints. In those works, we calculated the correlation coefcients between all the chemical species present in the plasma spectra generated during laser welding of aluminum alloy AA5083. In this way, we have been able to build the covariance maps of the process in optimal and defective conditions. A positive correlation value between two chemical species present in the spectrum indicated that they changed, as a function of a known parameter, in the same way, i.e. that they were formed by a process which had a similar characteristic. On the other hand, a negative correlation indicated that the two species were formed by competing processes. In this work, we present the development of this new approach

Corresponding author. CNR-INFM LIT3-Laboratorio Regionale di Ricerca, Formazione, Sviluppo e Trasferimento alle Imprese di Tecnologie Laser Innovative via Orabona 4, I-70126 Bari, Italy. Tel.: +39 80 5443480; fax: +39 80 5442219. E-mail address: teresa.sibillano@sica.uniba.it (T. Sibillano).

0143-8166/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.optlaseng.2007.04.002

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consisting of monitoring the temporal evolution of the correlation between signicant emission lines in different welding conditions, aiming to optimize the quality and the reproducibility of the welded joints. 3. Experimental details 3.1. Set-up A high power CO2 industrial laser was operated at its maximum power of 2.5 kW. The beam diameter was 25 mm and the divergence was 0.5 mrad. The laser head contains a 130 mm ZnSe focusing lens and a coaxial nozzle, supplying an axial shielding gas, with a diameter of 3 mm. The nozzle stand-off distance from the workpiece is adjustable, and it is independent from the beam focal position. Helium was used as shielding gas. The plasma optical emission was collected by a quartz collimator of 6 mm focal length. The collected light was transmitted to a PC interfaced miniature spectrometer by an 50 mm core-diameter optical ber (see Fig. 1a). The spectral range investigated was 550800 nm, with an optical resolution of 0.3 nm. The detector

characteristics, such as the spectral range and resolution, allowed us to catalogue the chemical species present in the plasma. From our previous studies we can select the plasma emission lines that give more useful information on the performances of the process and when defects occurred. The temporal resolution chosen was about 20 ms. Welding tests were carried out on 2 mm thick plate of AA5083 aluminum alloys [68]. 4. Results and discussion Plasma emission during laser welding of 2-mm-thick plate of AA5083 aluminum alloy were studied under different welding conditions: we selected three emission lines for correlation analyses acquiring their temporal evolution during the process. The selected emission lines were the following: Al(II) at l 559:33 nm, Mg(II) at l 789:63 nm and O(II) at l 656:63 nm which are the most reliable for the detection of the joint defects. We calculated the temporal evolution of the correlation coefcients mij between these three emission lines, along the workpiece length. The spatial resolution of the computed plots

Fig. 1. (a) Scheme of the experimental set-up; (b) example of an optical spectrum of plasma plume emission (from [8]).

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depended on the degree of freedom N [7,8] used to calculate the correlation coefcient plots. The number N also inuenced the threshold value of mij corresponding to the selected condence level: in this study, it was chosen a condence level of 95%. Two series of welding tests were carried out: in the rst, we varied in each run the travel speed v and the incident laser power P examining the correlation coefcient changes as a function of the thermal input incident on the surface of the workpiece. In the second sequence of welding tests the experimental parameters, e.g. laser power, welding speed, and gas ow rate, were varied during the run. From the calculated curves it was possible to nd a relationship between the correlation coefcients and the occurrence of some defects on the welded joints: in particular, the correlation/anti-correlation behaviour between Al and Mg, Al and O and Mg and O emission lines was studied in this work. The rst general conclusions that can be drawn is that, in all the experimental conditions investigated, the correlation between Mg and O was always well above the chosen condence level. We can thus assert that there was an increase (decrease) in Mg emission which corresponded to an increase (decrease) in the O emission. In fact, in a stable helium environment, magnesium and oxygen easily reacted to form complex magnesium oxides [7] always inducing a strong correlation between these two species. 4.1. Results for constant operating parameters The correlation AlMg and AlO was inuenced by the linear energy input, as showed in Fig. 2. It was evident that correlation coefcient plots for both AlMg and AlO were very similar. For low heat inputs HI 16:6 J=mm, when partial penetration depth of the workpiece was achieved, an abrupt drop in the correlation coefcient plots was observed well below the threshold limit of 95% condence level (Fig. 2a). As the thermal input increased, some drops of the correlation AlMg and AlO below the condence level were observed only in few points along the workpiece. These events corresponded to the occurrence of some local defects such as craters or spatters on the welded seams (Fig. 2b). As the welding speed decreased (HI 41:6 J=mm corresponding to v 60 mm=s), the process became more stable and we observed less defects on the joint surface, the welded seams appeared more regular. In fact for this experimental condition the vaporization rate increased and the plasma was continuously enriched by aluminum and magnesium so that these species were always correlated, as well as Al and O (Fig. 2c). 4.2. Results for variable operating parameters In Figs. 35 we showed the evolution of the correlation coefcients between the three species considered under variable welding conditions: we varied the laser power, the welding speed and the gas ow rate during the process and

Fig. 2. Correlation coefcient plots between Al and Mg for different heat inputs (HI): operating conditions (a) P 2:0 kW, v 120 mm=s; (b) P 2:5 kW, v 80 mm=s; (c) P 2:5 kW, v 60 mm=s. a factor indicates the chosen condence level.

we observed how the correlation between these chemical species was inuenced by the dynamics of the process. In the rst case (Fig. 3), we varied the incident laser power by decreasing it from 2.5 to 1 kW: the welded seam appeared stable and regular for high heat input (incident power ranging from 2.5 to 2 kW), as expected by the results reported in the previous paragraph. For such values of incident power, the correlation between the species considered was always well above the chosen condence level. It can be argued that part of Mg, as well as of Al, enriches the plasma at the expenses of the molten region. As the incident laser power decreased the shape of the welded seams appears more irregular and affected by the presence of some defects. We ascribed the occurrence of local defects to the instability of the vaporization rate of the alloy elements that caused a correlation drop between Al and O and between Al and Mg (as shown in Fig. 3: sketches 1 and 2). It was possible to relate the correlation signal strength with the penetration depth of the weld: in fact for lower heat inputs (incident power ranging from 1.25 to 1.0 kW) a partial penetration welding regime was established, as showed in the particular of the welding

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Fig. 3. (a) Correlation coefcient plots for variable incident power (operating conditions: v 60 mm=s, Q 60 l= min); (b) particular of the bottom view of the welded joint corresponding to low incident power. Fig. 5. (a) Correlation coefcient plots for variable gas ow rate (operating conditions: v 60 mm=s, P 2 kW); (b) crater formation due to too low gas ow rate.

Fig. 4. Correlation coefcient plots for variable welding speed (operating conditions: P 2:5 kW, Q 60 l= min).

joints corresponding to the low value of the incident power. In these conditions the correlation plots appeared unstable and showed many points under the chosen condence level. The same remarks can be applied to the results obtained at variable welding speed: it was conrmed that the heat input inuenced the correlation between the emission lines considered. The correlation coefcient plots calculated between Al and O and between Al and Mg allowed us to determine a threshold value for the welding speed above which the welded joints quality is unacceptable. In fact, for welding speeds above 70 mm/s (corresponding to a HI 35:7 J=mm), we observed a discontinued full

penetration and a welded seam affected by some defects. The calculated plots showed that, above 75 mm/s, the correlation abruptly decreased under the condence level corresponding to the transition from the full opened keyhole to the partial penetration regime. The keyhole shape was strongly inuenced by the welding speed, in fact the analysis of the welded joints cross-section showed that, for high welding speed, the keyhole was shallow and broad (welding speed ranging from 40 to 70 mm/s) and therefore the beam absorption by the workpiece was less efcient. For too low welding speeds (welding speed below 50 mm/s), the energy deposited on the workpiece surface was high enough to cause some instabilities in the melt pool that affect the nal prole of the joint and the vaporization of aluminum and magnesium. For welding speed above 150 mm/s HI 16:6 J=mm the correlation coefcients increased above the condence level: the analysis of the welded joints crosssections showed that at such high welding speed the mean value of aspect ratio was always less than one, typical of the conduction mode welding. In this regime, the energy input was too low to sustain the keyhole and therefore shallower penetrations were obtained. Nonetheless, there was still some vaporization from the melt pool surface and plasma formation but the overall optical plasma emission was not affected by uctuations and instabilities due to hot vapors ejection from the keyhole. This resulted in a more stable plasma and a high correlation among all the

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emission lines investigated. This welding regime was more stable than the deep penetration welding and the overall plasma emission intensity was not affected by uctuations and instabilities leading to a high correlation between the emission lines considered. Finally, we carried out a welding test in which the gas ow rate was varied during the process, from 100 to 10 l/ min so that after about 6 cm from the beginning of the run, a completely inefcient gas shielding was established. The correlation coefcient plots were shown in Fig. 5 together with the picture of a evident crater observed along the welded joint. It is worth noting that the abrupt drop of the correlation, located at about 6 cm, corresponded to the occurrence of the defect shown in the picture. The correlation plot became unstable for the remaining part of the weld, due to the lack of shielding gas. 5. Conclusions Correlation spectroscopy can be used to detect local defects during laser welding of metals. The results of the welding tests performed showed that the CMT was strongly inuenced by the quality of the process due to strong relation between the occurrence of the defects and the optical emission coming from the plasma plume. The presented results conrmed that this technique was efcient

for detecting the presence of local defect and for monitoring the instabilities of the process caused by the variation of the process parameters. Acknowledgments This work was supported by MIUR (Ministero dellIs` e della Ricerca, ITALY) under truzione, dellUniversita project DD1105. The authors would like to acknowledge Piero Calabrese for the technical support. References
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