Holographic visualization of laser-induced plume in pulsed laser welding

High-speed holographic interferometry was applied to the experimental study of a laser-induced plasma plume in pulsed laser welding. We adopted two kinds of holographic interferometers for visualizing and imaging the refractive index distribution of the plume and vaporized metal; a real-time holographic interferometer with a high-speed camera and a double-pulsed holographic interferometer with a dual-reference-beam module. The high-speed photographs of the weld plume were compared with the visualized images by holographic interferometer. The experimental results show the process of generation and propagation of the laser-induced plume and give the feasibility of quantitative measurement of the density distribution of the laser-induced plume and vaporized metal in laser welding.