Krzysztof Dzierzega

Investigations of GMAW plasma by optical emission spectroscopy

We report on investigations of gas metal arc welding plasma operated in pure argon and in a mixture of argon and CO2 at a dc current of 326?A. The spatially resolved electron densities and temperatures were directly obtained by measuring the Stark widths of the Ar?I 695.5?nm and Fe?I 538.3?nm spectral lines.Our experimental results show a reduction of the plasma conductivity and transfer from spray arc to globular arc operation with increasing CO2 concentration. Although the electron density ne increases while approaching the core of the plasma in the spray-arc mode, a drop in the electron temperature Te is observed. Moreover, the maximum Te that we measure is about 13?000?K. Our experimental results differ from the Haidar model where Te is always maximum on the arc axis and its values exceed 20?000?K. These discrepancies can be explained as a result of underestimation of the amount of metal vapours in the plasma core and of the assumption of local thermal equilibrium plasma in the model.

Plasma diagnostics in gas metal arc welding by optical emission spectroscopy

The plasma column in a metal inert gas welding process is investigated by optical emission spectroscopy and high-speed imaging. The concentration and repartition of iron vapours are measured and correlated with the plasma and electrode geometric configuration. Plasma temperatures and electron densities are also measured for each studied position in the plasma. The temperatures are calculated using two different methods, allowing validation of the local thermodynamic equilibrium state of the plasma. The results show a maximum temperature of 12 500 K in the upper part of the arc, away from the arc axis. The iron concentration reaches a maximum of 0.3% close to the anode and strongly decreases along both the vertical and radial directions.The plasma thermophysical properties, calculated from this plasma composition, are then discussed regarding the metal transfer mode.

Measurement of atomic Stark parameters of many Mn I and Fe I spectral lines using GMAW process

The particular character of the welding arc working in pure argon, whose emission spectrum consists of many spectral lines strongly broadened by the Stark effect, has allowed measurement, sometimes for the first time, of the Stark parameters of 15 Mn I and 10 Fe I atomic spectral lines, and determination of the dependence on temperature of normalized Stark broadening in Ne = 1023 m−3 of the 542.4 nm atomic iron line. These results show that special properties of the MIG plasma may be useful in this domain because composition of the wire-electrode may be easily adapted to the needs of an experiment.

Study of the spray to globular transition in gas metal arc welding: a spectroscopic investigation

The gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process is strongly influenced by the composition of the shielding gas. In particular, addition of CO2 increases the threshold current for the transition from unstable globular to more stable spray transfer mode. We report on the diagnostics—using optical emission spectroscopy—of a GMAW plasma in pure argon and in mixtures of argon, CO2 and N2 while operated in spray and globular transfer modes. The spatially resolved plasma parameters are obtained by applying the Abel transformation to laterally integrated emission data. The Stark widths of some iron lines are used to determine both electron density and temperature, and line intensities yield relative contents of neutral and ionized iron to argon.Our experimental results indicate a temperature drop on the arc axis in the case of spray arc transfer. This drop reduces with addition of N2 and disappears in globular transfer mode when CO2 is added. Despite the temperature increase, the electron density decreases with CO2 concentration. The highest concentration of iron is observed in the plasma column upper part (close to the anode) and for GMAW with CO2.Our results are compared with recently published works where the effect of non-homogeneous metal vapour concentration has been taken into account.

Simultaneous measurement of electron and heavy particle temperatures in He laser-induced plasma by Thomson and Rayleigh scattering

Thomson and Rayleigh scattering methods were applied to quantify the electron and heavy particle temperatures, as well as electron number density, in a laser spark in helium at atmospheric pressure. Plasma was created using 4.5 ns, 25 mJ pulses from Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm. Measurements, performed for the time interval between 20 ns and 800 ns after breakdown, show electron density and temperature to decrease from 7.8×1023 m−3 to 2.6×1022 m−3 and from 95 900 K to 10 350 K, respectively. At the same time, the heavy particle temperature drops from only 47 000 K down to 4100 K which indicates a two temperature plasma out of local isothermal equilibrium.

Investigations of the cathode region of an argon arc plasma by degenerate four-wave mixing laser spectroscopy and optical emission spectroscopy

Degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) laser spectroscopy was used in local studies of atmospheric pressure argon plasma generated in a free-burning arc. The results of plasma diagnostics using the DFWM method were compared to the results obtained with optical emission measurements. In the cathode region of the arc the maxima of both the DFWM signal and the emission coefficient for the 696.5 nm Ar I line depend on the distance from the cathode tip. This effect proves the departure of the plasma state from local thermal equilibrium (LTE) as it has been reported by many authors. On the other hand the Stark shifts of the 696.5 nm Ar I line determined by the DFWM method in relation to plasma diagnostic results show no deviations from LTE on the arc axis down to 1.0 mm from the cathode tip.

Nanosecond infrared laser-induced precipitation of silver nanoparticles in glass

The paper presents the way that colour can serve solving the problem of calibration points indexing in a camera geometrical calibration process. We propose a technique in which indexes of calibration points in a black-and-white chessboard are represented as sets of colour regions in the neighbourhood of calibration points. We provide some general rules for designing a colour calibration chessboard and provide a method of calibration image analysis. We show that this approach leads to obtaining better results than in the case of widely used methods employing information about already indexed points to compute indexes. We also report constraints concerning the technique. Nowadays we are witnessing an increasing need for camera geometrical calibration systems. They are vital for such applications as 3D modelling, 3D reconstruction, assembly control systems, etc. Wherever possible, calibration objects placed in the scene are used in a camera geometrical calibration process. This approach significantly increases accuracy of calibration results and makes the calibration data extraction process easier and universal. There are many geometrical camera calibration techniques for a known calibration scene [1]. A great number of them use as an input calibration points which are localised and indexed in the scene. In this paper we propose the technique of calibration points indexing which uses a colour chessboard. The presented technique was developed by solving problems we encountered during experiments with our earlier methods of camera calibration scene analysis [2]-[3]. In particular, the proposed technique increases the number of indexed points points in case of local lack of calibration points detection. At the beginning of the paper we present a way of designing a chessboard pattern. Then we describe a calibration point indexing method, and finally we show experimental results. A black-and-white chessboard is widely used in order to obtain sub-pixel accuracy of calibration points localisation [1]. Calibration points are defined as corners of chessboard squares. Assuming the availability of rough localisation of these points, the points can be indexed. Noting that differences in distances between neighbouring points in calibration scene images differ slightly, one of the local searching methods can be employed (e.g. [2]). Methods of this type search for a calibration point to be indexed, using a window of a certain size. The position of the window is determined by a vector representing the distance between two previously indexed points in the same row or column. However, experiments show that this approach has its disadvantages, as described below. * E-mail: A.Nowakowski@ire.pw.edu.pl Firstly, there is a danger of omitting some points during indexing in case of local lack of calibration points detection in a neighbourhood (e.g. caused by the presence of non-homogeneous light in the calibration scene). A particularly unfavourable situation is when the local lack of detection effects in the appearance of separated regions of detected calibration points. It is worth saying that such situations are likely to happen for calibration points situated near image borders. Such points are very important for the analysis of optical nonlinearities, and a lack of them can significantly influence the accuracy of distortion modelling. Secondly, such methods may give wrong results in the case of optical distortion with strong nonlinearities when getting information about the neighbouring index is not an easy task. Beside this, the methods are very sensitive to a single false localisation of a calibration point. Such a single false localisation can even result in false indexing of a big set of calibration points. To avoid the above-mentioned problems, we propose using a black-and-white chessboard which contains the coded index of a calibration point in the form of colour squares situated in the nearest neighbourhood of each point. The index of a certain calibration point is determined by colours of four nearest neighbouring squares (Fig.1). An order of squares in such foursome is important. Because the size of a colour square is determined only by the possibility of correct colour detection, the size of a colour square can be smaller than the size of a black or white square. The larger size of a black or white square is determined by the requirements of the exact localisation step which follows the indexing of calibration points [3]. In this step, edge information is extracted from a blackand-white chessboard. This edge information needs larger Artur Nowakowski, Wladyslaw Skarbek Institute of Radioelectronics, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 15/19, 00-665 Warszawa, A.Nowakowski@ire.pw.edu.pl Received February 10, 2009; accepted March 27, 2009; published March 31, 2009 http://www.photonics.pl/PLP

Degenerate four-wave mixing in equilibrium argon arc plasma

The non-intrusive degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) method was used to study the local thermal equilibrium atmospheric-pressure argon arc plasma. The laser wavelength was in resonance with the - ArI transition, corresponding to the 696.5 nm emission line. The Abrams - Lind theory was verified and proved to be valid under the conditions of our plasma. In the high-laser-intensity limit, the DFWM signals were shown to be exclusively dependent on the population difference between the relevant argon states. Well resolved axial and radial profiles of the plasma temperature and the electron density were determined.

Laser spectroscopy of thermal plasma

Thermal plasma, due to its applications, is a research field of great importance, but reliable diagnostics of such plasma remains a challenging task. Spatially resolved methods, which provide local values of plasma parameters, are crucial for understanding the underlying physics. This can be achieved using pump–probe techniques. Two methods applicable and useful for thermal plasma diagnostics—four-wave mixing and scattering of laser beams—are discussed in this paper. Experimental examples of their application, namely four-wave mixing in argon arc plasma and scattering of laser light by laser-induced plasma, are presented.