Life Improvement of Tungsten Electrode in Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) Welding Process

In the TIG welding, the tungsten electrodes are used to create free-burning arc through the electrical energy input. The heat content of the free burning arc is used to melt the work-pieces for their joining purposes. At TIG welding, the tip angles of the electrode considerably influence the shape of the arc plasma, the welding energy density and in consequence of that the penetration of the joint. Also there is an scientific co-relation between the electrode composition, plasma arc shape and the wear of electrode during the TIG operation.
This work experimentally demonstrate the wear of the TIG arc affected tungsten electrode in relation with the materials used in the manufacture of arc welding electrodes. The electrode‘s surface temperature distribution is extensively dependent on the additional oxide‘s composition in the tungsten electrode. Further some experimental techniques for electrode tip surface modification are purposed for their wear minimization.