Potentials of image processing for quality assurance in laser welding processes

Laser welding is a future oriented joining technique in various industrial technologies, for instance in the field of car body making as a main application in the automotive industry. It offers a lot of benefits compared with other joining techniques. On the other hand there are a couple of disadvantages which make it essential to monitor the welding process. Different systems where developed in the past, which can observe the welding process as kind of in-process-monitoring systems. For example, coaxial photodiode - systems for one-dimensional analysis of electromagnetic emissions or coaxial CMOS-camera systems for two dimensional imaging systems are available. A portable radiography system would be a very comfortable and helpful add-on for this kind of multisensor system. The lecture gives an overview of the potentialities of radiography image processing for quality assurance in laser welding processes.