Investigation of electrode erosion products of alternating current plasma torch operating on mixture of steam, carbon dioxide, methane and carbon tetrachloride

The most important unit of the plasma torch mainly subjected to the thermal load of the electric arc is electrode. Tungsten, hafnium, yttrium, aluminum, copper, iron and their alloys are used as electrode materials depending on the plasma-forming gas. Copper-based alloys can be rationally used for gases containing oxygen. The experiments were performed on the three-phase alternating current vortex plasma torch with power of 120 kW working on a mixture of steam, carbon dioxide, methane and carbon tetrachloride for the following flow rates 2.9 g/s, 2.9 g/s, 1.21 g/s and 2.44 g/s respectively. The material of erosion of copper rod electrodes was sampled from water-cooled walls of electric arc plasma torch channels made of stainless steel. The sample was divided into magnetized and non-magnetic parts. According to the energy-dispersive elemental analysis the products of electrode erosion contain oxides and chlorides of copper and iron, as well as metallic copper and iron.