A theoretical model for gas metal arc welding and gas tungsten arc welding. I.

Abstract

A recently developed theory for predicting arc and electrode properties in gas metal arc welding (GMAW) has been generalized to include arc–electrode interfaces, variation of surface tension pressure with temperature, Marangoni forces and handling of weld pool development in stationary gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). The new theory is a unified treatment of the arc, the anode, and the cathode, and includes a detailed account of sheath effects near the electrodes. The electrodes are included as dynamic entities and the volume of fluid method is used to handle the movement of the free surface of the molten metal at one electrode. Predictions can be made of the formation and shape of the welding droplets as a function of time in GMAW and also of weld pool development in GTAW, accounting for effects of surface tension, inertia, gravity, arc pressure, viscous drag force of the plasma, Marangoni effect and magnetic forces, and also for wire feed rate in GMAW. Calculations are made of current densities, electric potential, temperatures, pressures and velocities in two dimensions, both in the arc and also within the molten metal and solid electrodes. Calculations are presented for GMAW and GTAW for an arc in argon and the results are compared with experimental temperature measurements for the plasma and the electrodes.