Control and optimization of the laser cladding process using matrix cameras and image processing

The laser cladding process, which consists of adding a melted powder on to a substrate in order to improve or change the behavior of the material against corrosion or fatigue, involves many parameters. In order to produce good tracks some of these parameters need to be controlled during the process. We present a low cost system using two charge coupled device (CCD) matrix cameras. One camera provides surface temperature measurements while the other gives information about the powder distribution or geometric characteristics of the tracks. The surface temperature enables us — by use of the Beer–Lambert Law — to detect variations in the mass feed rate. Using such a system we are able to detect fluctuation of 2–3 g min−1 in the mass flow rate. The other camera gives us information related to the powder distribution, a simple algorithm applied to the data acquired from the CCD matrix camera allows us to see very weak fluctuations within both gas fluxes (carriage or protection gas). During the process, this ca...