Laser Ultrasonics 2010

Laser-based ultrasonic-emission sensor

for in-process monitoring during
high-speed laser welding
B. Pouet, A. Wartelle and S. Breugnot
Bossa Nova Technologies, Venice, CA 90291, USA
S. Ream
Edison Welding Institute, Columbus, Ohio 43221, USA

Motivation
Fuel cells
Attractive energy alternative
Efficient, quiet, non-polluting
Run on pure hydrogen, methanol, diesel, other hydrocarbons
Applications: Commercial & Military (Electronics / residential / Car &
truck Auxillary / Automotive / Heavy Vehicle / Marine / industrial .)

Manufacturing challenges
One generic challenge that appears in many fuel cell system designs:
To join thin stainless-steel sheet for variety of components
(bi-polar plates, recuperators, reformers, cassettes and other heat exchangers)

Biggest opportunity for fuel cell is in the automotive sector.

Motivation
Fuel Cell for Automotive Sector
A fuel cell vehicle includes ~400m long weld
- 400 bi-polar plates
- 1 meter of laser weld / bi-polar plate
Very high-speed welding needed to achieve high production
rate and cost target

Manufacturing Challenges
Zero tolerance for defect (lack of fusion / lack of penetration)
Post-process inspection is not possible
(Slows production rate & Increases cost)
In-process inspection is needed

Laser Welding
Highlights
Narrow weld seam
Minimum heat affected zone
Little metallurgic effect on material
Little distortion
No filler material required
Non-contact and no-wear
High process speed

Single mode CW Fiber Laser

Best for welding of thin metal sheet
Demonstration using a 600W Single mode CW
Ytterbium fiber lasers (l=1070nm) at 800mm/s

CO2 laser weld @ 10m/min

Nice but too wide & too slow!

Fiber Laser @ 800mm/s

Laser Welding
Thermal Conduction Welding

Penetration Welding

Laser Ultrasonic in-process inspection

Laser Ultrasonic inspection
In-process Inspection limited by the repetition
rate of generation laser

In-processing monitoring of welding quality by monitoring the AE

During the welding process, the weld vicinity is subject to high level of
strain leading to localized strong elastic and non-elastic behavior of the
material that is associated with continuous and/or rapid release of elastic
energy: Acoustic Emission (AE).

Welding Laser acts as the ultrasonic source

Using a laser-ultrasonic sensor to follow the welding laser and to listen to
the ultrasonic noise emanating from the weld

Ultrasonic Emission (UE)

Airborne Acoustic Emission
Acoustic Emission (AE) emanates
from the weld pool as the generated
vapor displaces the ambient air

Detected by microphone (<100kHz)

Not used for assessing weld quality
Mostly used for controlling the
welding condition (laser focal height)

In-Solid Acoustic Emission

Emanates from the weld
Buried source, HF >100kHz
Propagate in the plate

Carries information about the internal process

Well suited for In-process inspection

Detection of Ultrasonic Emission

Sensor Requirements
Direct detection of the ultrasonic surface displacement
Transverse surface motion up to 1m/s
Unprepared surface
High sensitivity (sufficient for single shot measurement)
Small footprint
Broadband detection [20kHz to 2MHz and higher]
Ability to measure very near the weld and on top of the weld molten pool.
Must be able to be integrated with the welding Laser

Fiberized Random-Quadrature Multi-channel Interferometer

Random-Quadrature Multi-Channel Interferometer

Use of a detector array instead of single-element detector to sum all

contributions and increase sensitivity
EQUIVALENT TO MANY SINGLE-SPECKLE INTERFEROMETERS IN PARALLEL
Multi-detector

Probe
beam

Absolute amplitude
demodulation

Signal
beam

Sample
Reference beam

Speckle processing

Signal out

Optical path
difference
Speckle pattern

Interference principle used in Quartet

Undesired signals from object motion are filtered out electronically

No-stabilization required: Quadrature is achieved via the random distribution of speckle phases

Laser Ultrasonic Sensor

Fiberized Random-Quadrature Multi-channel Interferometer

Laser welding prototype platform

Welding system
- 600W Single mode CW Ytterbium fiber laser (l=1070nm)
- Focal spot size = 19mm
- Shielding gas injected through coaxial nozzle
- Sample is fixed
- Laser beam position controlled by XYZ translation
- Thin sheet welding demonstrated at 800mm/s

Sensor integration
- Mounted with laser welding head.
- Sensor follows the welding laser
- Constant offset during welding/measurement
(distance between laser welding & detection spots)
- Detection can be positioned near or on top of the
weld

Laser Ultrasonic Sensor- Setup

Welding Laser

Optical Head

Stand-off = 10cm

Clamp
Sample to weld
To Demodulator

Demodulator

Signal Detection & Processing

Computer
&
Acquisition
Card
Multi-channel detector

- Signal Processing RMS / sliding window

High-Pass Filter
- To reject the background noise
- 20KHz / 200kHz / 1MHz

To correlate with
visual/destructive
inspection

Display

Test Samples
SAMPLES
- Stainless steel sheets (2)
- Thickness = 100mm
- Sample length = 10cm
INDUCED DEFECTS
- To introduce a small gap between sheets:
- Small tab (100mm thin & 5mm wide)
- Small wire
- To introduce contaminant between sheets
- Paint, silicone
WELDING PARAMETERS
- Welding length: 70mm
- Welding speed for test: 100mm/s & 200mm/s *

* Sensor demonstrated at 3m/s.

Tab

weld

Tab

Peeled sample

weld

Wire

weld

Measurement Procedure

- Record a 1st pass with Welding

Laser Off:
To acquire background noise
RMS / 200ms sliding window
- Record a 2ndpass with Welding
Laser Off & calibration signal ON:
To acquire calibration signal
- 3rd pass, record UE signal from
welding
Weld length=70mm

Calibration Signal @ 240kHz

Plate length=100mm

RMS

Noise Sources
Sensor
- Detector Electronic Noise (minimized by
design)
- Laser Intensity Noise (rejected by
differential detection scheme)
- Shot noise limited detection
Environment
- Electromagnetic noise from the translation
stage motor (pickup from the acquisition
card)
Solution: shielding of acquisition card
- Vibration noise (motor vibration.)
Rejected if frequency below the detector
High-pass filter cut-off frequency.

Experiment
- Optical noise from transverse speckle
motion.
No noise visible at 200mm/s
- Doppler shift due to variation in stand-off
distance.
Not an issue: The welding laser beam has
tighter stand-off distance requirement
than the detection laser .
Example of EM noise before shielding of acquisition card

Results No Defect -

Sensor: [200kHz 10MHz]

Welding speed = 100mm/s
Offset between weld and sensor: 5mm
Signal strength variation (reflectivity): 50%
Background noise is low
Ultrasonic Emission burst visible when
welding start & stop

Results induced defects: Gap 1cm

Sensor: [200kHz 10MHz]

Welding speed = 100mm/s
Offset = 5mm
Sliding window = 200ms

Results Induced defect: contaminant -

- Sensor: [200kHz 10MHz]

- Welding speed = 200mm/s

- Offset = 2mm
- Sliding window = 800ms

Detection on top of Keyhole

Induced defect: contaminant
- Welding spot: 19mm
- Detection spot =100mm
- Sensor: [1MHz 20MHz]
- Welding speed = 200mm/s
- Sliding window = 800ms

Findings summary
Tested Detector Bandwidth
- Low Frequency [20kHz to 2MHz]
- Medium Frequency [200kHz 10MHz]
- High Frequency [1MHz 10MHz]

Sensitive to background & laser Intensity noises

Most useful for this demonstration [200kHz-1MHz]
Used for detection on top of weld pool

Detection near the weld:

- Closer to weld leads to stronger UE signals
- Strong UE signals clearly correlate with Lack of fusion and partial penetration defects
- Sharp UE bursts caused by random impurities on the top surface getting vaporized
Spatter ejection
Recoil force
Detection on top of the Keyhole
- Location of defect corresponds to a loss in the detected signal!
- Despite the 1MHz High frequency cut-off, Strong background noise visible.
- Detection not reliable / too much disturbance

Conclusion
Preliminary results are very promising
For detection near the weld, using very simple signal processing we
clearly detected Lack of fusion & partial penetration defects
Some weak UE signals (slightly above the background noise) were
correlated with concave weld defects (further processing needed)
Detection on top of the keyhole is very noisy.
Next Step
Detection on the weld seam, behind the weld pool to be tested

Further Signal processing to improve defect detection & characterizations

Further Signal processing to reject unwanted signals (UE bursts from random
impurities)

Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, DMI-0740241