Use schlieren method for displaying flow in laser technologies

It is important to know the flow of gas protective atmosphere for the laser welding degree of protection of the weld pool from the atmosphere and for the interaction between the gas and the plasma plume rising from the keyhole. The gas flow from the nozzle during laser cutting of material has a significant impact on the quality of the final cut. In both cases the schlieren method a very useful tool for understanding the dynamics of gas flow. There were performed multiple experiments to clarify the flow of various kinds of gas (argon, helium, nitrogen) and their dynamics