High-Speed Camera on Molten Pool in Transferred Arc Configuration

During tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding process, heat transfer between plasma and the work piece leads to a metallic weld pool. Combination of different forces produces movements on the molten pool surface. Following the predominance of the forces, the depth and width of the weld pool differ, affecting the weld quality. One of our aims is to observe the flow motion applying different experimental conditions and nature of materials. This provides a set of observations that allows us to quantify the velocity, the weld pool shape, and dimensions. These quantities are essential to validate numerical models used to adjust TIG parameters. In this paper, visualization of an AISI 304L stainless steel molten pool with high-speed imaging, velocity estimation, and microscopic observation are presented.