Capillary depth measurement for process control

In laser welding applications optical coherence tomography (OCT) is used to measure the capillary depth for process monitoring and process control. A controlled constant weld depth is expected to run applications closer to their process limits and reduce the number of destructive sample inspections. An essential premise is a reliable weld depth measurement independent from influencing factors. This work analyzes the influence of laser power, beam diameter, feed rate, and work piece material on the weld depth measured using the OCT technology. The results obtained by using fixed laser optics are compared to the corresponding results from scanner optics.