Laser Metal Deposition On-Line Monitoring via Plasma Emission Spectroscopy and Spectral Correlation Techniques

Plasma spectroscopic techniques focused on the analysis of the plasma background radiation have been studied to enable an efficient on-line monitoring of a laser metal deposition process. The influence of different process parameters and elements, such as laser power, process speed, powder feeding rate and different powder and substrate compositions has been analyzed by means of several experimental trials. The resulting cladding patch analyzes via visual inspection and macrographs have been correlated with their associated spectroscopic monitoring signals. These studies have indicated that on-line quality monitoring of the laser metal deposition process is feasible by means of the proposed solutions, avoiding the identification and use of plasma emission lines. The latter improves the computational performance and avoids, not only the identification of each emission line, but also their specific sensitivity to certain defects. Spectral correlation techniques have also been proposed for monitoring purposes, thus enabling a more quantitative analysis.