Abstract
The pressure of gas tungsten welding arcs has been measured for currents from 300 to 600 amperes using argon and helium gases. Although the measurements are generally consistent with previous results at lower currents, the present work shows that the pressure exerted by helium is a strong function of arc length. Several different scaling laws for the maximum pressure as a function of arc current and electrode tip angle are discussed.
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Abbreviations
- B :
-
magnetic flux density (weber/m2)
- F :
-
integrated arc force (N)
- I :
-
current (A)
- J :
-
current density (A/m2)
- J max :
-
maximum current density at the center of arc (A/m2)
- p :
-
static gas pressure in the arc (N/m2)
- P arc :
-
arc pressure (stagnation pressure of the plasma jet) (N/m2)
- r :
-
radial distance (m)
- R :
-
radius of arc (m)
- R 1 :
-
radius of arc at the cathode region (m)
- R 2 :
-
radius of arc at the anode region (m)
- v :
-
velocity of the electromagnetically-induced plasma jet (m/sec)
- z :
-
axial distance from tip of cathode (m)
- η :
-
viscosity of the shielding gas (kg/m-sec)
- μ o :
-
permeability in free space (henry/m)
- ρ :
-
density of the shielding gas (kg/m3)
- σ e :
-
current distribution parameter (m)
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Lin, M.L., Eagar, T.W. Pressures produced by gas tungsten arcs. Metall Trans B 17, 601–607 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02670227
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02670227