Plasma Arc Cutting - Reversed Swirl Ring, Electrode Thread and Cut Direction Effects on Kerf Geometry

Plasma arc cutting is used to cut any conductive material. It consists in blowing pressurized gas and feed current an arc, leading a thin plasma dart able melt down the material blow it away, creating kerf. Its quality depends on its shape. This paper shows, through experimental measurements, how inner geometry of torch can affect quality. appears that one side kerf much more oblique sensitive factors variation than other. A theory based computational fluid dynamics model proposed investigate causes these phenomena.