Acquisition and image processing system able to optimize laser cladding process

The laser cladding process, which consists of adding a melt powder to a substrate in order to improve or change the behaviour of the material against corrosion, fatigue and so on, involves a lot of parameters. In order to perform good tracks some parameters need to be controlled during the process. We present here a low cost performant system using two CCD matrix cameras. One camera provides surface temperature measurements while the other gives information relative to the powder distribution or geometric characteristics of the tracks. The surface temperature (thanks to Beer Lambert's law) enables us to detect variations in the mass feed rate. Using such a system we are able to detect fluctuation of 2 to 3 g/min in the mass flow rate. The other camera gives us information related to the powder distribution and the particles speed. During the process, this camera is also used to perform geometric measurements (height, width...). We display the result of our system in order to enhance the efficiency of the laser cladding process.

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