BEAD INSPECTION METHOD, AND BEAD INSPECTION APPARATUS

A bead inspection step and a bead inspection apparatus that inspect the quality of a bead are disclosed . . . . The bead inspection apparatus includes a wire-feed-speed measurement device that measures the feed speed of a brazing wire, and an analysis portion that measures and analyzes position coordinate data about surfaces of a first, workpiece, a second workpiece and the bead, and performs a first shape data measurement step of. measuring first shape data before brazing, a second shape data measurement step of measuring second shape data after the brazing, a feature quantity calculation step of calculating predicted values of feature quantities based on the first and second shape data and the brazing wire feed speed, and a throat thickness calculation step of calculating a predicted value of the throat thickness by a regression expression formed based on actual measurements of the feature quantities and of the throat thickness.