A three-modules sensor for CO2 laser welding and cutting processes

Laser welding and cutting processes have a large fall out in industrial manufacturing and high and medium power CO2 lasers have been successfully introduced in production lines. Tile present research has been concentrated on the development of a non-intrusive sensor for the monitoring of the quality of the laser machined steel pieces. The sensor consists of three elecro-optic modules able to detect infrared, visible, and ultraviolet radiation coming from the interaction zone. During the welding process the three signals have been simultaneously stored. The statistical analysis of these signals have been correlated with the results of the radiographic tests. During the cutting process only the infrared radiation have been detected for the process monitoring.