Measurement of arc pressure and shield gas pressure effect on surface of molten pool in TIG welding

Tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding is most frequently used for arc study because it is clean and easy to control welding factor. Many researchers have been focused on the plasma stream to find out the relationship between vertex angle and penetration of the tungsten electrode in TIG welding. Moreover, researchers studied the characteristics of vertex angle and arc pressure and heat flux distribution of the tungsten electrode. In addition, they have carried out factors that have influence on the behaviour of the molten pool. Previous studies assumed that arc pressure was dominant for the force that physically works on the surface of the molten pool, neglecting the shield gas pressure. In addition, they have been focused on the protection of molten weld pool from exposure to the atmosphere. The object of this study is to investigate the effect of shield gas pressure on the surface of the molten pool by measuring the distribution of arc pressure and shield gas pressure compared with arc physical results of previous researches. In this study, we measured the distribution of arc pressure and shield gas pressure on the water cooled copper plate by changing the setting shield gas pressure and shield gas cup inside diameter. As the setting shield gas pressure increased and the shield gas cup diameter decreased, the arc radius got narrower due to the thermal pinch effect. Maximum arc pressure was slightly affected by setting the shield gas pressure and shield gas cup diameter. However, the shield gas pressure on arc surroundings was raised with the increasing setting shield gas pressure and the decreasing gas cup inside diameter. Orbital welding with convex back bead was successfully performed through molten pool control by shield gas pressure adjustment.