1995 Volume 13 Issue 1 Pages 82-85
This paper describes on the new developed Iridium(Ir) -Yttrium oxide (Y2O3) electrode for plasma cutting torch using compressed air in operating gas.
From the two type consumption tests, the continuous operation and the periodic operation at 25 A in air, Ir-Y2O3 sytem showed extremely low consumption in the range from 10 to 25 wt% in Y2O3 content for 3.6 ks at 25 A in arcing. And Ir-Y2O3 system showed the same erosion characteristic of dependency on Y2O3 content in metal as Ru-Y2O3 system. Especially, Ir including 15 wt% Y2O3 electrode showed the same durability as 85Ru-15Y2O3 electrode, and showed a good erosion resistance compared with Hf electrode.
