Interaction of CO2-laser beam with argon plasma of gas tungsten arc

A self-consisted mathematical model was proposed for energy, mass, and charge transfer processes in the arc column plasma and anode region of gas tungsten arc (GTA) with water-cooled anode under the influence of a focused laser beam, propagating along the arc column. This model was the basis for performing detailed numerical analysis of the interaction processes between Gaussian beam radiation emitted by a continuous-wave CO2-laser and the argon plasma of a stationary GTA. It was determined that additional local heating by focused laser radiation changes the thermal and electromagnetic characteristics of the arc column plasma. The influence of laser radiation absorption and refraction in the arc plasma on the characteristics of the laser beam and its thermal effect on the anode metal surface was studied. Laser heating of the arc plasma also leads to a rearrangement of spatial distributions of temperature, electric potential and current density in the near-anode arc plasma, thus changing the distributed and integral characteristics of its thermal impact on the anode surface.