Measurement of micro weld joint position based on magneto-optical imaging

In a laser butt joint welding process, it is required that the laser beam focus should be controlled to follow the weld joint path accurately. Small focus wandering off the weld joint may result in insufficient penetration or unacceptable welds. Recognition of joint position offset, which describes the deviation between the laser beam focus and the weld joint, is important for adjusting the laser beam focus and obtaining high quality welds. A new method based on the magneto-optical (MO) imaging is applied to measure the micro weld joint whose gap is less than 0.2 mm. The weldments are excited by an external magnetic field, and an MO sensor based on principle of Faraday magneto effect is used to capture the weld joint images. A sequence of MO images which are tested under different magnetic field intensities and different weld joint widths are acquired. By analyzing the MO image characteristics and extracting the weld joint features, the influence of magnetic field intensity and weld joint width on the MO images and detection of weld joint position is observed and summarized.