Temperature measurement inside and near the weld pool during laser welding

The work in this article deals with the measurement of temperature fields i nside and near the weld pool during laser welding. The laser source used fo r this study is a 7.5 kW CO2 laser, and the welded material is a UNS N08904 austenitic stainless steel. The principle behind the actual experimentatio n is relatively simple: the welding operation is recorded with a charge cou pled device camera equipped with infrared filters; after calibrating the ca mera sensor and image processing, the temperature distribution in the weld pool and near the melted zone is revealed. (C) 1999 Laser Institute of Amer ica.