Laser metal welding is widely applied in industry. Nevertheless, a complete process understanding which leads to a full control of the process is not available yet. To contribute a solution for this task, we use two high-speed cameras with recording rates of up to 250 kHz and measure the velocity and direction of the fluid flow inside the keyhole with very high precision. Furthermore, we use tracer particles to measure the fluid dynamics in the keyhole. To get a deep view into the keyhole without the use of x-rays, we use a setup which allows us to look inside the keyhole during overlap welding of zinc-coated steel sheets with a spatial resolution of 25 μm per pixel and a temporal resolution of 5.3 μs per frame. Moreover, we quantify the influence of this approach on the process dynamics. Our findings show how the fluid dynamics inside the keyhole are linked to the laser power, the feed rate, and a gap between two zinc-coated steel sheets.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.