In-situ observation and modelling of solidification and fluid flow on GTAW process

An experimental setup is presented in order to obtain experimental data during solidification of a static weld pool after arc extinction with a GTAW process. Several devices have been set up to extract three kinds of measurements: (i) solidification front velocity (ii) fluid flow velocity at the vicinity of the front (iii) temperature field in the solid part. A high-speed camera is used to film the interface during welding at microscopic level and an infra-red in order to take the temperature field around the weld pool in the solid part. After processing and calibration of the videos, the experimental results are compared to theoritical results founded on an adapted model from the KGT [1] and from the one of Gandin et al. [2]. All the tests are done thin plate of Cu-30wt.%Ni. (paper)