Weld metal revelation for machine vision applications

Modeling and optimization of welding processes is one of the important topics for welding researches. In such research, it is necessary to measure the weld bead geometry. Nowadays, machine vision has a widespread use in measurement applications. In order to use machine vision in weld bead geometry measurement, it is necessary to acquire the desired images of cross section of welded plates with desirable separation of weld and base metal regions. This separation is performed by suitable solution to etch cross section of welded plates. In this paper, it has been tried to determine suitable solution to etch cross section of welded plates (made from API X56 steel) for obtaining the best revelation of weld metal regions. This solution can be utilized to obtain desired image of welded plate's cross section for machine vision measurement of weld bead geometry.