Unified modelling of TIG microarcs with evaporation from copper anode

Abstract

A previously developed unified model of a tungsten-inert gas (TIG) microarc has been extended to take into account the melting of the anode made of copper and the release of copper atoms due to its evaporation. The copper atoms enter the plasma to become excited and ionized. The presence of copper atoms and ions can strongly change the plasma parameters. The extended unified model further includes excited states of copper and collisional and radiative processes between them. Predictions of the parameters of the microarc plasma in the presence of copper species are presented and discussed.