UDC 539.3+681.7:068 and D. L. Tsyganov a,bInvestigations are presented of the formation of a plasma jet and of the current-density and heat-fl ux distributions in the process of metal cutting along the cut cavity with direct and reverse polarities of the plasmatron connection. The study of the specifi c features of heat transfer of the arc with the surface of the cut cavity was carried out on the basis of the developed plasma unit which makes it possible to model the technological process of separating metal cutting. A sectional cut model is proposed which can be used to work out and optimize the methods of determination of cutting parameters.Introduction. An electric arc as a physical phenomenon has been known for about two hundred years and has found wide use in many technological processes used in various industries -from machine construction to medicine [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. An electric arc discharge is used in technological processes that involve metal cutting, e.g., for very productive and highprecision cutting of special steels and nonferrous metals (plasma arc cutting) alike [1, 2, 7]. The prospect for using plasma arc cutting in the technological processes of metal working is connected with the wide capabilities and high effi ciency of contracted stabilized electric arcs.A contracted arc exerts a thermal and an appreciable force effect on the working zone. It is known [7,8,[12][13][14]] that the total force effect and the distribution of the thermal effect are determined by a number of factors: the arc current, the fl ow rate of a plasma-forming gas, the diameter of a plasma-forming nozzle, and the length of the free area of the arc.The main properties of an electric arc that are central to the technological processes of cutting are intense thermal and dynamic effects on a metal. The wide application of a plasma arc for working of metal products is limited by the inadequate study of this trend in plasma technology [3,4,7].As known [4,11], complex and interrelated thermal, gasdynamic, and electromagnetic processes proceed in the cut cavity formed under the effect of a plasma arc. As a result of this effect on the plasma stream, intense heating and melting of a metal occur, which are followed by the removal of the melt from the cut cavity by the plasma stream. The process of heat and mass transfer, mechanical mixing of the molten metal, and change in the state of the substance proceed over the entire volume near the front wall of the cut cavity. While superimposing on each other, these processes cause the formation of temperature and mechanical force fi elds and of an electric fi eld, which are generally unsteady.The present-day experimental methods for determining the parameters of an electric arc [8,[14][15][16] are distinguished by complexity, which limits the possibilities of using them for designing new and optimizing existent engineering devices and technological processes and makes them almost impracticable for determining the arc parameters in a dynamic regime to effi ciently control...