Real-Time Observation of Laser Heated Metals with High Brightness Monochromatic X-Ray Techniques at Present and Their Future Prospects

We present the x-ray techniques for characterizing laser heated metals for welding and cutting techniques. At present, with an undulator (70 keV) as well as bending magnet (30 keV) sources at SPring-8 as a probe source, CW 300 W Ytterbium fiber laser irradiates an Aluminum slab as a sample. Simultaneously the x-ray beam probes the sample for real time observation of a molten pool. We observe the convection indicated by the motion of tungsten based particles as a tracer in the molten pool. During the cooling phase, the molten metal is solidified with residual stresses which are affected by the heating and convection processes. In this experiment the time and space resolution are ∼milli-second and several tens of μm, respectively. On the other hand, microscopic short transient phenomena also play a significant role for the quality of a solidified material. For this purpose, we need high energy short pulse x-ray sources. We try to discuss on the capability and limitation of present x-ray sources and the prospect of an ultra high brightness x-ray source as a complementary source for full characterization of the laser heated and cooling processes of metals.