Weld Pool Solidification - Transparent Materials

The weld pool solidification was studied by shining laser light on to the transparent material which mimics the metal solidification. The solidification in pure material and alloyed material were studied. Interesting observations were amde on the weld pool development, dendrite solidification, liquid/solid interface front stability, and grain boundary melting as a function of welding velocity.

Various movie clips are given in RealPlayer format. You can look at these movies by downloading the realplayer, a freeware. The movies are made into low resolution to reduce the network load. Please contact Dr. S. A. David or Dr. R. Trivedi for video tapes of the same.

Pure Material

Experimental Setup and pure material and welding velocity 0.318 mm /s
Welding velocity 1.27 mm/s

Alloyed Material

0.0635 mm/s (alloy solidification)

Dendrite formation (same speed)(at high magnification)

0.318 mm/s (alloy solidification)
1.27 mm/s (alloy solidification)
Liquid/solid front instability during rapid welding
Grain boundary melting

Acknowledgement:
The real media files were generated by Chris Dotson of ORNL. We thank him for the help.