Argyle International Inc.
254 Wall Street, Princeton, NJ 08540
Tel: 609-924-9484 Fax: 609-924-2679
www.ArgyleOptics.com
Since 1993
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ARGYLE
The American Corporation with
its own factory in China
Lenses
Prisms
Windows
Mirrors
IR-VIS-UV
Assemblies
HIGH-SPEED IMAGING continued
Simply adding a 510 nm bandpass
filter to pass the copper-vapor laser
light removes the majority of the light
emitted from the fireball and allows
the interaction of the projectile and
armor surface to be observed with
some clarity.
Diagnose faults in
welding processes
Arc welding generates an intense plasma
that can completely obscure the complex metal transfer processes happening within. Where metal is added, such
as in metal-active-gas (MAG) welding,
it is often useful to understand what is
actually happening. Many experienced
welders claim to be able to “hear” what
the torch is doing, but the reality is that
the processes are often different from
their characteristic sound.
The use of a high-speed camera and
laser illuminator allows process developers to diagnose whether the welding machine is performing to specification and
to observe the cause of defects or faults
in the process (see Fig. 3). Furthermore,
operators of large welding machines
can observe the process as it is taking
place and intercept faulty joints before
the part moves to the next processing or
inspection step.
REFERENCE
1. J. Blackburn and P. Hilton, “Producing surface
features with a 200 W Yb-fiber laser and the
Surfi-Sculpt process,” Proc. Sixth International
WLT Conference on Lasers in Manufacturing,
Munich, Germany, p. 23 (May 2011).
Tim Stephens is an imaging systems engineer at Oxford Lasers, Didcot, England;
e-mail: tim.stephens@oxfordlasers.com;
www.oxfordlasers.com.
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FIGURE 3. The splashing of
molten metal is clearly visible
within the melt pool of a gas
metal arc-welding process.
The image was captured at
5000 fps with an exposure
time of 2 µs and illuminated by
an Oxford Lasers Firefly 300 W
laser diode delivered through a
flexible light guide. (Courtesy of
Oxford Lasers)
