This paper addresses intelligent control of weld shape for plates with varied root openings during pulsed GTAW with filler metal, and is a development from the work in Refs. 1-3. The newly developed double-sided visual image sensing system could acquire the front topside, back topside, and backside images of the weld pool simultaneously in the same frame. The root opening and the doublesided we...

Cracking is a major concern in welding aluminum alloys. Although weld solidification cracks can be eliminated through addition of filler alloy, the additives modify the alloy or base-metal constituents and may not always be desirable. High-energy beam processes, such as electron-beam welding, that result in minimal heat input reduce crack sensitivity, but their high cost limits their applicatio...