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Enhancing plasma arc penetration ability with radial gas flow

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Abstract

Enhancing penetration ability is a critical issue in plasma arc welding (PAW). A novel welding torch is developed to create a secondary compression by adding a radial gas flow below the nozzle of the PAW torch, which acts on the plasma arc in the vertical direction. The role and action mechanism of radial gas is studied by experimental test and simulation calculation. Adding the radial gas will enhance the arc column contraction, resulting in increased arc pressure and voltage; simulation results indicate that the addition of radial gas improves the physical characteristics such as arc plasma velocity, temperature, current density, magnetic flux intensity, and radial Lorentz force when compared with conventional PAW; spot welding proves that the re-constricted plasma arc with radial gas achieves greater penetration depth. These findings suggest that the addition of radial gas flow is an effective method for controlling and improving the penetration ability of the plasma arc.

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The method codes involved in this paper are not applicable.

Funding

This research received financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51975403, 52375373, 51975332).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering & Tianjin Key Laboratory of Advanced Joining Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Fei Liu, XingPei Wu & ZuMing Liu

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  1. Fei Liu
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  2. XingPei Wu
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  3. ZuMing Liu
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Contributions

ZuMing Liu carried out the conception of the research and participated in the revision of the manuscript; Fei Liu carried out the analysis of data and drafted the manuscript; XingPei Wu completed the simulation calculation.

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Correspondence to ZuMing Liu.

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Liu, F., Wu, X. & Liu, Z. Enhancing plasma arc penetration ability with radial gas flow. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 130, 3619–3630 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-12935-4

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