Experimental approach for quantification of fluid dynamics in laser metal welding

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.