Plasma properties of helium gas tungsten arc with metal vapour

The energy source characteristics of gas tungsten arc ( GTA) strongly depend on the physical property of arc plasma. In welding processes, it has been experimentally confirmed that metal vapour evaporated from a high temperature weld pool drastically changes the property of arc plasma and decreases its temperature. However, the effect of metal vapour on the characteristics of heat flux into a base metal is still not clear owing to the difficulty in experimental studies of arc plasma. In the present paper, the energy source property of helium GTA mixed with metal vapour was numerically analysed. It was found that the intense radiation generated from dense metal vapour decreases heat flux into a base metal and contracts the current density distribution especially near the arc axis.