Computational Materials Science 45 (2009) 327335

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Computational Materials Science

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Numerical study and comparisons of gas tungsten arc properties between argon and
nitrogen
Shanping Lu *, Wenchao Dong, Dianzhong Li, Yiyi Li
Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 72 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, nitrogen was used as an alternative gas for its ne protection to weld pool and relatively low
Received 7 April 2008 cost, in contrast to widely used argon and helium shielding gases in gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). A
Received in revised form 25 September two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical model from McKelliget et al. was adopted to describe the heat
2008
transfer and uid ow in the gas tungsten arc (GTA) to predict the basic energy source properties of nitro-
Accepted 2 October 2008
Available online 26 November 2008
gen GTA. Simulation results showed that the arc temperature contours, the distribution of heat ux and
current density at the anode agree well with experimental results in literature for both argon-shielded
arc and nitrogen-shielded arc. To solve the model, the nitrogen arc plasma properties, i.e. temperature,
PACS:
51.50.+V
voltage drop and ow elds have been derived. And the distribution of the heat ux, current density
and gas shear stress at the anode with the different arc lengths and welding currents has been studied.
Keywords: Moreover, by comparing with the properties between the argon and nitrogen arc, the results indicate that
Numerical simulation the nitrogen arc is more contraction than that of argon arc under the same arc length and welding current.
Arc plasma Especially, the increasing of the maximum of heat ux and current density at the anode shows that the
Nitrogen nitrogen GTA possessed excellent energy source properties for GTAW in contrast to the argon arc.
Argon 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
As a thermal plasma, the gas tungsten arc (GTA) has been exten-
sively utilized in material processing, such as welding, cutting and
spraying [1]. Therefore, it is necessary to understand accurately
the basic phenomena of the arc plasma. However, the arc processing
needs relatively higher cost compared with the convectional treat-
ment by combustion, since the arc can be produced only by large
electric power. For this reason, the optimization of the operating
conditions for the improvement of cost performance has been ex-
pected eagerly in the industrial world. Nevertheless, it is experimen-
tally difcult to clarify the physical phenomenon in detail and to
optimize the operating conditions of an arc-electrodes system, since
the thermouid eld of an arc is very complex in the extreme condi-
tions. The numerical modeling is expected to be one of the effective
approaches to solve this problem. In the last two decades, the axi-
symmetric arc model has been widely studied [29]. A very funda-
mental work concerned with the study of the plasma arc
congurations is the one of Hsu et al. [2]. McKelliget and Szekely
[3] published a mathematical model considering all the important
physics. Their main contribution was to propose a better representa-
tion of heat ux and current density at the anode surface. Choo et al.
[4], Wu et al. [5] and Ramirez et al. [6] provided similar numerical
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 24 23971429.
E-mail address: shplu@imr.ac.cn (S. Lu).
models, to investigate the behaviors of the TIG welding arc plasma
in argon. Lago et al. [7] included the solid anode domain in the
computation, as well as the effects of anode vaporization. Lowke
and Tanaka et al. [8,9] developed a unied model considering simul-
taneously both the electrodes and arc regions. In general, the differ-
ence between those models is the critical boundary condition at the
cathode tip. Nevertheless, those models are all proven to give satis-
factory results in regard of the plasma stream variables. Majority of
the researches are strengthened on the argon shielding gas.
Energy source properties of GTA strongly depend on the physi-
cal properties of the shielding gas. For instance, Tanaka et al. [9,10]
compared the differences between the argon arc and the helium
arc. In contrast to the argon arc, the current channel of helium
arc is constricted due to its low electrical conductivity. Conse-
quently, the constriction increases the heat input intensity to the
target materials and, thus, leads to high productivity. However,
the high cost of helium and the poor arc ignitability limit its appli-
cations in industry. Therefore, an alternative shielding gas with
lower cost and better energy source properties is required.
Nitrogen is another prospective gas with good protection, cheep
cost and easy available in industry. Generally, the nitrogen-
shielded gas GTA welding is applied to the high nitrogen stainless
steel. Addition of nitrogen to stainless steels improves the strength,
the corrosion and the fracture toughness of the steels [11]. The ef-
fect of the nitrogen in GTA welding on the melting and penetration
of AZ80 magnesium alloy is investigated by Marya [12], and the

0927-0256/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.commatsci.2008.10.010
328 S. Lu et al. / Computational Materials Science 45 (2009) 327335

Nomenclature

Az, Ar axial, radial electrical vector potential Ta,g temperature at 0.1 mm from the anode (K)
Bh azimuthal magnetic eld (Wb m2) Tanode temperature at the anode surface (K)
Cp heat capacity (J kg1 K1) Tc,g temperature of the gas in the cell closest to the cathode
e electronic charge (C) (K)
I arc current (A) Tcat temperature in the cathode (K)
jz, jr axial, radial current density (A m2) Telec temperature of the electrons (K)
JC cathode current density (A m2) u; v axial, radial velocities (m s1)
K thermal conductivity (W m1 K1) Va anode voltage fall (V)
kb Boltzmans constant (J K1) VC cathode voltage fall (V)
kg thermal conductivity taken at an average temperature z; r axial, radial coordinate (m)
of the gas (W m1 K1) l viscosity (kg m1 s1)
P pressure (Pa) l0 magnetic permeability of free space (H m1)
QA anode heat ux (W m2) q density (kg m3)
Qc conversion contribution to the anode heat ux (W m2) r electric conductivity (S m1)
Qe electron contribution to the anode heat ux (W m2) / potential (V)
Qr radiation contribution to the anode heat ux (W m2) UW material work function (V)
QC cathode heat ux (W m2) a ratio of electrons to plasma temperature at the anode
RC cathode spot radius (m) fall (1.2 [6])
SR radiate source (W m3) d maximum experimentally observed thickness of the an-
T temperature (K) ode fall region (0.1 mm [7])

results show that with diatomic gases such as nitrogen and hydro-
gen, voltage and weld dimensions were even further increased. Yan
et al. [13] simulated the welding temperature patterns of gas tung-
sten arc welding for copper thick plates during Ar, He or N2
shielded arc welding. By comparing the size of the heat-affected
zones, it is the narrowest during N2 arc welding. In addition, Haidar
et al. [14] and Murphy [15] used the spectroscopic and laser-scat-
tering technique to measure the free-burning nitrogen arc,
respectively.
In this paper, by adopting nitrogen, the basic energy source
properties of nitrogen GTA are investigated systematically. Calcu-
lations are carried out using the commercial software FLUENT ver-
sion 6.2.16, adapted for thermal plasmas. First, the arc plasma 2D
conguration is presented and compared with experimental in or-
der to validate the model. Not only the nitrogen arc properties are
predicted, but also the effects of the welding current, arc length on
the heat ux, current density and shear stress at the anode are ana-
lyzed. Finally, the results are compared with those of conventional
argon gas tungsten arc.

Fig. 1. Computational domain for the welding arc.

2. Mathematical modeling

The computational domain for the welding arc is shown in

Fig. 1. The welding arc consists of an electric arc struck between
a tungsten electrode and a steel workpiece. In GTAW, the process
is usually direct current straight polarity, where the electrode is
negative (cathode) and the workpiece is positive (anode). As the
arc plasma can be approximated to a uid, the NavierStokes equa-
tions are used to describe the arc plasma column, to which the
electromagnetic equations are added to take into account the elec-
tromagnetic properties of the arc.
 The arc plasma is supposed to be in local thermal equilibrium
(LTE), which implies that the electron and heavy particle tem-
peratures are not signicantly different.
 The plasma is optically thin, i.e. no absorption is taking place
inside the arc.
 Gravity and heat dissipation due to viscosity effects are
neglected.

2.1. Assumptions 2.2. Governing equations

The following assumptions are made in the mathematical Using the above assumptions, the conservation equations can
model: be written as follows.
Mass continuity equation is
 The arc is steady, radially symmetrical. So the arc can be mod-
o 1 o
eled in a two-dimensional cylindrical coordinate. And the ow qvz qrvr 0 1
is assumed to be laminar. oz r or
Radial momentum conservation equation is
 S. Lu et al. / Computational Materials Science 45 (2009) 327335 329

 
o 1 o oP o ov ov Table 1
qvz vr qrvr vr  l rl z Boundary conditions for the welding arc models
oz r or or oz oz or
 
1 o ovr P vz vr T / Az Ar
2r l  jz Bh 2
r or or ab 0 0 3000, Q = Eq. (16) o/
oz JC oAz
oz 0 oAr
oz 0
o/ oAz oAr
bc 0 0 3000 oz 0 oz 0 oz 0
Axial momentum conservation equation is o/ oAz oAr
cd 0 0 3000 0 0 0
  or
o/
or or
o 1 o oP o ovz de 1 ovz
0 ovr
0 1000 0 oAz
0 oAr
0
2l
oz oz oz oz oz
qvz vz qrvr vz  ef 1 ovz
0 ovr
0 1000 o/
0 oAz
0 oAr
0
oz r or oz oz oz or or or or or
  fg 0 0 1000 0 oAz
0 oAr
0
1 o ovz ovr oz oz
rl rl jr Bh 3 ga ovz
or 0 ovr
or 0 oT
or 0, Q = Eq. (21) o/
or 0 oAz
or 0 oAr
or 0
r or or oz
The unit for pressure P, velocity vz ; vr , temperature T and potential / is atm, m/s, K
Energy conservation equation is and V, respectively.
   
o 1 o o k oh 1 o k oh
qvz h qrvr h r jz J C r < RC 13
oz r or oz C p oz r or C p or
2 2  
jz jr 5 kb jz oh jr oh jz 0 r > RC 14
 SR
r 2 e C p oz C p or
where the radius of the cathode spot is dened as
4 s
The last three terms in Eq. (4) represent the Joule heating, the radi-
I
RC 15
ation losses and the diffusive transport of enthalpy due to the elec- pJC
tron ux, respectively.
McKelliget and Szekely [3] found that a single value of the cathode
Current continuity equation is
current density gave good results, compare with experimental mea-
   
o o/ 1 o o/ surements, for different values of welding current and arc length. In
r rr 0 5
this paper, JC is assumed to be 6.5  107 A/m2. The electric potential
oz oz r or or
is assumed to be iso-potential (zero) at the anode (regions fg). This
According to Ohms law, the current density components are as is based on the assumption that the conductivity in the metal is
follows much higher than that in the plasma, implying that the variation
o/ of the electric potential in the metal is much less than that in the arc.
jz  r 6
oz
2.4. Source terms used at the cathode and anode regions
o/
jr r 7
or 2.4.1. Cathode region
In order to obtain the magnetic eld, the potential vector method is It was shown by Hsu and Pfender [16] that in the cathode
adopted [7]. boundary layer the plasma is not in LTE condition due to a differ-
ence in temperature between electrons and heavy particles. For
! ! !
 r 2  A l0 j 8 thermionic cathodes, McKelliget and Szekely [3] suggested that a
positive source term could be used to account for the energy used
so
in the cathode boundary layer to ionize the plasma and thereby
 
o2 Az 1 o oAz cause a drop in the electric potential.
2
r l0 jz 0 9 This heat source for the arc column can be expressed as
oz r or or
  Q C jJ C jV C 16
o2 Ar 1 o oAr Ar
r  2 l0 jr 0 10 and the cathode voltage fall V C , can be described as
oz2 r or or r
5 kB
From them we can deduce the azimuthal magnetic induction VC T elec 17
2 e
! ! ! where T elec is approximated by the following relationship [17]
B r A 11
Therefore T elec T c;g  T cat 18

oAr oAz
Bh  12 2.4.2. Anode region
oz or
In this investigation, the following four different mechanisms
for the heat transfer from the arc to the anode are considered:
2.3. Boundary conditions (1) heat ux due to the electron ow, (2) conduction from the plas-
ma, (3) radiation from the plasma. Heat loss due to vaporization in
In order to solve the transport equations for the calculation do- the anode boundary is neglected.
main, boundary conditions need to be specied. A complete listing The heat ux to the anode due to the ow of electrons may be
of boundary conditions for the welding arc is presented in Table 1. expressed as
Domain boundaries are lines linked by points expressed by capital
letters according to the notation used in Fig. 1. 5 kB  
Q e jz aT a;g  T anode jz UW V a 19
The most critical boundary condition is the electrical potential / 2 e
at the cathode. Here, the boundary condition is approximated by For steel, the work function plus the anode fall UW V a is equal to
assuming that the cathode current density, J C emitted from the 6.76 V [6].
cathode normal to the surface is constant inside the cathode spot The heat transferred by conduction from the arc is calculated as
radius, RC (regions ab), and is zero outside, i.e. follows
330 S. Lu et al. / Computational Materials Science 45 (2009) 327335

T a;g  T anode
Q c kg
d software FLUENT V6.2.16 is used. FLUENT is a computer program
Ushio [18] found that the contribution of plasma radiation Qr to the
anode is less than 5% of the total heat input. So Qr is taken as 3%
here.
In conclusion, the total energy from the arc to the anode is rep-
resented as follows
QA Qe Qc Qr
2.5. Physical properties
Physical properties, namely density, viscosity, thermal conduc-
tivity, specic heat and electrical conductivity of argon and nitrogen
are treated as functions of temperature. All these properties are ta-
ken from the tabulated data of Boulos et al. [19], as shown in
Fig. 2ae. The radiation loss term SR for argon in the energy conser-
vation equation is taken from experimental data of Evans and Tankin
[20], as shown in Fig. 2f. In this study, the radiation loss term for ar-
gon is used in the nitrogen calculations, due to a lack of sufcient
data for nitrogen. It is important to note the highly nonlinear proper-
ties of the argon and nitrogen arc with respect to temperature.
2.6. Numerical method
The whole calculation domain as shown Fig. 1 is discretized
with a quadrilateral, nonstructured grid. The nodes are clustered
near the electrodes surfaces and the arc axis. The smallest grids
are the thickness of the anode fall region (0.1 mm  0.1 mm).
To solve the above equations, the commercial uid dynamics
20
based on the nite volume method that models uid ow, heat
transfer and so on.
User-dened subroutines are written to handle some special
boundary conditions, special source terms appearing in each equa-
tion, as well as the extra scalar equations needed for the electro-
21 magnetic variables [21]. These subroutines are added to the
program to solve the welding arc problem.
The face values of scalar variables are also required for the con-
vection terms and their values are gained from interpolation. First
order upwind scheme was adopted to calculate the face values of
the scalar variables, since the problem was convection-dominated
ow. For pressure and velocity coupling, the SIMPLE algorithm was
employed [22].
For the solution algorithm, the segregated solver was selected.
This means that the segregated approach solves a single variable
eld by taking all control volumes at the same time into consider-
ation. It then solves for the next eld variable by again considering
all control volumes at the same time and so on [21].
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Validation
As was stated in the aforementioned introduction, the extensive
experimental welding arc studies are available in the literature and
can be used to validate the predictions of the current arc model.

Fig. 2. Physical properties of argon and nitrogen as a function of temperature: (a) density [19], (b) specic heat [19], (c) viscosity [19], (d) thermal conductivity [19], (e)
electrical conductivity [19], and (f) radiation loss [20].
 S. Lu et al. / Computational Materials Science 45 (2009) 327335 331

Figs. 3 and 4 show the comparison of the temperature con-

tours between the calculated and experimental results [2,14] for
the argon arc at 200 A welding current, 10 mm arc length and
the nitrogen arc at 200 A welding current, 5 mm arc length,
respectively. The typical bell shape of the arc periphery expressed

Fig. 4. Comparison between experimental and calculated temperature contours in

the welding arc for nitrogen arc. The experimental results (200 A at 5 mm arc
length) are from Haidar et al. [14].

Fig. 2 (continued)

Among the various arc properties, the temperature distribution,

the heat ux to the workpiece and the anode current density are
mostly concerned due to its affects on the heat transfer and uid
ow in the weld pool. For the purpose to verify the validity of
the model, the result of the calculations is compared with available
experimental data.

Fig. 3. Comparison between experimental and calculated temperature contours in Fig. 5. Comparison between experimental and calculated radial proles of the
the welding arc for argon arc. The experimental results (200 A at 10 mm arc length) plasma temperature of a 200 A nitrogen arc at two axial distances from the cathode
are from Hsu et al. [2]. (a) 1 mm and (b) 3 mm. The experimental results are from Murphy [15].
332 S. Lu et al. / Computational Materials Science 45 (2009) 327335

by the isotherm of 11000 K and 8000 K is clearly observed for
both the argon arc and the nitrogen arc. The comparisons be-
tween calculated and measured temperature contours show a
fairly good agreement when the temperature is above 12000 K.
The difference between the experimental and the calculated data
for the 12000 K temperature distributions could be due to several
reasons. The most probable one is due to the LTE assumption
used in the present study. It is known that the outer fringes of
the arc are not in LTE, which cause the experimental and calcu-
lated results to be a little off in the arc fringes.
Figs. 5a and b show that the calculated radial proles of the
plasma temperature of a welding current 200 A, arc length
5 mm nitrogen arc at two axial distance, 1 mm and 3 mm, from
the cathode, and compared with the experimental results [15].
It can be seen that the experimental measurements and the
calculated results agree well. Fig. 5b shows the difference be-
tween experimental and calculated data when the radial distance
is over 4 mm. The reason could be the LTE assumption as previ-
ously mentioned.
Additional comparisons between the present calculated results
and corresponding experimental data from Nestor [23] at 200 A
welding current and 6.3 mm arc length are presented in Fig. 6
including the anode heat ux and current density for argon arc.
It can also be seen that a reasonable agreement is obtained
between the present predicted results and the experimental data.
In summery, these gures provide condence in the arc model
and which can be utilized to investigate other the properties of
the argon and nitrogen arc.
3.2. Nitrogen arc properties
Nitrogen is an easily obtained gas with good protection to weld
pool. Also it is cheap compared with argon or helium shielding gas.
It is a prospective shielding gas for arc welding especially for cop-
per and high nitrogen steel. Systematically simulation works on
the nitrogen arc are studied here, and compared with the argon arc.
Six major properties of the arc, i.e. maximum temperature
T max , maximum axial velocity vmax , electric potential difference
(V), anode pressure difference (P), maximum anode current density
J a; max and the maximum anode heat ux Q a; max for nitrogen arc
are summarized as shown in Table 2.
The welding current and electrode tip work distance (arc
length) are two main welding parameters strongly affecting the
weld pool shape, volume and welding productivity to which paid
attention by the welding researchers and engineers. However,
the real reason working the weld pool variable is from the arc
properties affected by the shielding gas and welding parameters.
For gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), the welding current is often
below 400 A, and the arc length is generally between 2.0 and
6.0 mm. In this study, the effects of welding current and arc length
on the nitrogen gas tungsten arc are systematically studied.
Figs. 7 and 8 show the radial variation of the anode heat ux
and current density for nitrogen arc at 200 A for three different
arc lengths of 2.0 mm, 3.0 mm and 5.0 mm, respectively. As the
arc length increases, the maximum of heat ux and current density
at the anode decreases, and its distribution radius increases. The
increase of arc length can lead to the extension of the arc distribu-
tion on the anode surface. As the conductive cross-sectional radius

Table 2
Calculated arc parameters at 2.0 mm and 5.0 mm arc lengths.

Arc length 2.0 mm 5.0 mm

Arc current 100 A 160 A 200 A 100 A 160 A 200 A
Q a; max (w/mm2) 91.5 172.5 202.5 29 89.5 128
Ja; max (A/mm2) 9.1 16.7 19.5 2.8 8.3 11.7
umax (m/s) 154.2 266.9 310.6 193.0 396 505.5
T max (K) 17,161 20,541 22,118 18,024 22,338 24,316
P (Pa) 355.7 692.9 917.0 416.3 824.2 1085.8
V arc (V) 16.2 16.7 17.1 18.8 20.4 21.2

Fig. 6. Comparison between experimental and calculated anode heat ux (a) and
current density (b) distributions for argon arc. The experimental results are from Fig. 7. Effect of arc length on the anodic heat ux with welding current I = 200 A for
Nestor [23]. nitrogen arc.
 S. Lu et al. / Computational Materials Science 45 (2009) 327335 333

Fig. 8. Effect of arc length on the anodic current density with welding current Fig. 11. Effect of arc length on the shear stress with welding current I = 200 A for
I = 200 A for nitrogen arc. nitrogen arc.

Fig. 9. Effect of welding current on the anodic heat ux at arc length L = 5.0 mm for Fig. 12. Comparison of axial velocity between argon and nitrogen arc under
nitrogen arc. different welding current.

Fig. 10. Effect of welding current on the anodic current density at arc length Fig. 13. Comparison of the anodic heat ux between argon and nitrogen arc at arc
L = 5.0 mm for nitrogen arc. length L = 5.0 mm and welding current I = 200 A.
334 S. Lu et al. / Computational Materials Science 45 (2009) 327335

increases and the welding current maintains unchanged, the max-

imum of heat ux and current density at the anode decreases.
The effect of different levels of welding current (100, 160 and
200 A) on the anode heat ux and current density distribution
for a 5.0 mm long nitrogen arc is shown in Figs. 9 and 10, respec-
tively. The maximum and the distribution radius of the heat ux
and current density at the anode increase with the increasing
welding current. The main reason is that the arc power increases
with increasing welding current, so that the arc plasma tempera-
ture, the gas electric conductivity in the arc column and the con-
ductive cross-sectional radius increase too. The increase of the
arc power and the arc cross-sectional radius results in the increase
of the distribution radius and the maximum of the heat ux and
current density at the anode. The shear stress generated by the mo-
tion of the plasma past the anode surface results in a transfer of
momentum from the plasma to the anode. For solid surfaces this
is unimportant but for a weld pool the shear stress is one of the
main driving forces affecting the uid ow, heat transfer and
Fig. 14. Comparison of the anodic current density between the argon and nitrogen
hence, the weld shape. Fig. 11 shows the radial variation of the an-
arc at arc length L = 5.0 mm and welding current I = 200 A.
ode shear stress for nitrogen arc at 200 A for three different arc
lengths. As the radial distance increases, the shear stress increases
rstly and then decreases. In addition, at shorter arc length of
2.0 mm, the maximum shear stress becomes smaller. When the
arc length is shorter, the gas could not be accelerated by the elec-
tromagnetic force to high velocity. Accordingly, the gas velocity on
the anode surface is small and it results in smaller shear stress. The
higher the shear stress on pool surface is, the stronger the outward
convection on liquid pool occurs. And the heat ux is easily trans-
ferred from the pool center to the edge making the weld pool wide
and shadow. Therefore, arc length is one of the important parame-
ters controlling the weld pool shape.

3.3. Comparisons of nitrogen and argon arc

The axial distribution of plasma velocity of argon and nitrogen

arc at 200 A is shown in Fig. 12. The predicted maximum velocities
of the axial ow of plasma range, for pure argon, from 106.4 m/s at
100 A to 243.9 m/s at 200 A. For the pure nitrogen arc, these values
increase due to the higher magnetic pinch pressure of the more
constricted arc to be 193.0 m/s at 100 A and 505.5 m/s at 200 A.
It is clearly shown that the axial velocity of the nitrogen arc plasma
is much larger than that of the argon arc plasma. For the predicted
electric potential difference, the analogous calculated results can
be obtained. The electric potential difference is from 13.2 V at
100 A to 15.8 V at 200 A for pure argon arc, and 15.8 V at 100 A
and 21.2 V at 200 A for pure nitrogen arc.
Figs. 13 and 14 show the radial distributions of heat ux and
current density at the anode surface for 200 A arcs in argon and
nitrogen, respectively. The results show important information
about pure and initial properties of arcs in argon and nitrogen as
a heat source for the welding, and a tendency for type of shielding
gas to change the current density and heat ux distribution. The
on-axis current density and heat ux for the nitrogen arc is much
higher than that of the argon arc. In addition, the distribution ra-
dius of the current density on the anode surface for nitrogen arc
is smaller than that for argon arc. That means the nitrogen arc con-
stricts more compared with the argon arc.
Fig. 15 shows the comparison of calculated temperature con-
tours of argon and nitrogen arc at 200 A with a gap between the
cathode and the workpiece of 5.0 mm. The dashed line and the so-
lid line represent the arc temperature contours for argon and nitro-
gen, respectively. It is shown that the nitrogen arc constricts
obviously, in contrast to the argon arc. The maximum temperature
near the cathode tip increases more than 24000 K and high-tem-
perature region elongates toward the anode due to the active Joule
heating.
Fig. 15. Comparison of temperature contours between argon and nitrogen arc at arc
length L = 5.0 mm and welding current I = 200 A.
Physical properties of argon and nitrogen have been investigated
by Boulos et al. [19] including the specic heat, thermal conductivity
and electrical conductivity. The most important characteristic of
nitrogen is its high specic heat and its high thermal conductivity
at lower temperatures as shown in Figs. 2b and d. For nitrogen
GTA, as shown in Fig. 13, the peak heat ux on the anode surface
reaches 1.3  108 W/m2, which is approximately two times higher
than that of argon GTA, mainly due to the current constriction. The
higher specic heat of nitrogen than that of argon will suppress
the expansion of the high-temperature region in the arc plasma,
and hence, constriction lifts the on-axis plasma temperature, re-
duces the diameter of the current channel and leads to the current
constriction. The resulting increase in arc current density (for con-
stant arc current) will increase the electromagnetic force that is
the driving force of the uid ow of the arc plasma. Also the increas-
ing electromagnetic force should result in the increase of the arc
plasma velocity. On the other hand, the increased ow velocity
prompts the energy loss in the fringe of the arc plasma, and hence,
the constriction of the plasma raises the arc voltage. As a results,
the peak heat ux onto the anode surface increases. High heat uxes
by constrict nitrogen arc will directly increase the weld pool volume
 S. Lu et al. / Computational Materials Science 45 (2009) 327335 335

and contribute to higher productivity in the GTAW applications. Acknowledgements

Nitrogen is another prospective shielding gas for arc welding.
The authors are grateful for the nancial support from the Na-
4. Conclusions tional Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant No.
50874101, the Creative Fund of Institute of Metal Research, Chi-
The following conclusions could be summarized: nese Academy of Sciences and Science Program of Shenyang City
under Grant No. 1071275-0-02.
(1) A two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical model from
McKelliget et al. [3] was adopted by the commercial model References
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especially, the effects of the heat ux, current density and [2] K.C. Hsu, K. Etemadi, E. Pfender, J. Appl. Phys. 54 (3) (1982) 12931301.
gas shear stress on the anode surface under different weld- [3] J. McKelliget, J. Szekely, Metall. Mater. Trans. A 17A (7) (1986) 11391148.
[4] R.T.C. Choo, J. Szekely, R.C. Westhoff, Metall. Mater. Trans. B 23B (6) (1992)
ing current and arc length.
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