This article offers a qualitatively new approach for production fused welding fluxes granules, based on the use of a plasma arc and the Ural region raw materials that have a particularly low content of harmful impurities. The processes of fused welding flux granules forming from the Ural region mineral raw materials under the impact of a highly concentrated energy source have been studied. A new fused welding flux for submerged arc welding is produced by plasma electric arc granulation, and has required shape and fractional, chemical and phase composition of the particles. This research presents experimental and theoretical studies of interaction processes of fine-dispersed batch from mineral raw materials with a highly concentrated energy source, aimed at obtaining new information about the basic patterns of the formation, structure and composition of resulting granules of functional materials, such as welding fused fluxes.

The article outlines the main principles of granulation technology for fused welding flux using highly concentrated heat sources (e.g. plasma arc). Modern plasma equipment and methods of its use for producing new welding materials (plasma-granulated welding flux) from mineral raw materials and synthetic mineral alloys are described. The developed technology makes it possible to produce granulated flux in a wide range of fractional composition (from 0.2 to 3 mm). Studies have focused on the influence of granulation regimes (plasmatron moving speed, current, voltage, arc length) on formation process and the morphology of welding flux particles. Mineral raw materials used for granulation were igneous rocks (basalt, hornblendite) and synthetic mineral alloys. The results obtained during experiments on the use of highly concentrated heat sources for granulation of a fused welding flux confirm the feasibility and prospects of this technology. Typical equipment for air-plasma cutting is used, and no new complex technological equipment is required, therefore it eliminates large material and labor costs.

Though silicate-oxide materials are in demand in all industries, inclusive of defense industry, their application is limited by manufacturing capability of their formation. Therefore, range expansion of manufacturing capability of forming silicate-oxide materials is an important issue. Casting technology allows obtaining fair-sized items and composite pattern at lower cost. It is used for silicate-oxide materials in petrurgical (stone casting) manufacturing, the melt for stone casting technology being often received by electric arc method.

Slag bases for welding materials have been developed from mineral raw materials and man–made mineral formations of the Urals. Successful comprehensive studies and tests of fused fluxes and also of weld metal and weld joints obtained by these welding materials have been carried out. It has been clearly established that the obtained weld metal has low content of harmful impurities ([S] is as low as 0.01 wt%) due to the use of the electric arc furnace method, purity of the feedstock minerals and technogenic raw materials and physicochemical reactions during the welding process.

No abstract