A Primary Study of Variable Polarity Plasma Arc Welding Using a Pulsed Plasma Gas

Abstract

A process variant of variable polarity plasma arc welding (VPPAW), that is, the pulsed plasma gas VPPAW process, was developed. The pulsed plasma gas was transmitted into the variable polarity plasma arc through a high-frequency solenoid valve to modify the output of the plasma arc. The collection of arc electrical characteristics, arc shapes, and weld formation from VPPAW, double-pulsed VPPAW (DP-VPPAW), and pulsed plasma gas VPPAW (PPG-VPPAW) was carried out to examine if the pulsed plasma gas was able to play a positive role in improving the stability and quality of the VPPAW process. The arc voltage shows that the pulsed plasma gas had a greater influence on the electrode positive polarity voltage. The lower the plasma gas frequency was, the lower the arc voltage fluctuation frequency was and the greater the arc voltage fluctuation amplitude was. From the arc image, it could be observed that the arc core length had a short decrease during the general rising trend after plasma gas was turned on. The arc core width only had a slight change due to the restriction of the torch orifice. Compared with pulsed current wave, the pulsed plasma gas could better enhance the fluidity of the molten pool to reduce porosity during aluminum keyhole welding.

Numerical Analysis of Keyhole and Weld Pool Behaviors in Ultrasonic-Assisted Plasma Arc Welding Process

“…The stability of the weld pool and keyhole is the prerequisite for obtaining a large penetration and good weld quality [ 2 ]. However, in the PAW process, the dynamic stability of the weld pool and keyhole is poor, and the welding process-parameter window is narrow, which restricts its wider applications in the industry [ 3 , 4 ]. To further improve the weld pool dynamic stability and the keyholing capability in PAW, Wu et al developed a process variant of PAW, i.e., ultrasonic-assisted plasma arc welding (U-PAW) [ 5 ], which exerts ultrasonic vibration on the tungsten electrode, as schematically illustrated in Figure 1 .…”