Investigation of heat transfer and fluid flow in activating TIG welding by numerical modeling

Heat transfer and fluid flow of arc plasma and weld pool in tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding and activated flux tungsten inert gas (A-TIG) welding of SUS 304 stainless steel are investigated comparatively though a 3D unified model. The model differs from the previous ones in that it considers the arc length more realistic for welding production. Tungsten electrode, anode (work piece) and arc plasma are all included. The effects of buoyance, plasma drag force, Lorentz force and Marangoni force on the weld pool flow are taken into account. By solving the conservation equations of mass, momentum, energy as well as Maxwell equations, the distributions of temperature and velocity of arc plasma and weld pool are obtained for TIG and A-TIG welding. The heat flux, current density and shear stress at the weld pool are presented. Dimensionless numbers are employed to compare the relative importance of the driven forces and that of convection and conduction in heat transfer of the weld pool. It is demonstrated that there is no significant difference in the heat flux at the weld pool, and total heat input to the anode and thermal efficiency is almost equal for TIG and A-TIG welding. The current density and the heat flux at the weld pool are more concentrated in more realistic welding condition. As a result, both of the temperature of the weld pool for TIG welding and A-TIG welding increases, while the latter is more significant. Marangoni force ranges from zero to 100 Pa and dominant the weld pool flow. Compared with the conventional TIG welding, the reversion of the Marangoni force results in inward flow and thus causes inward heat convection in weld pool of A-TIG welding. Heat convection was the main mechanism of heat transfer for SUS 304 stainless steel, which results in directly both shallow weld pool shape in TIG welding and remarkably increased weld pool depth and slightly constricted weld pool width in A-TIG welding.