Tungsten Copper Electrode Description

Tungsten copper electrode is kind of composite metal material and is composed of high purity tungsten powder and good conductivity Cu powder through isostatic pressing and high temperature sintering. Therefore, tungsten copper electrode not only has high melting point(3410℃) and high density (19.34 g/cm3) of W, but also has good conductivity and other advantages of Cu.

In addition, tungsten copper has good thermal resistance, high thermal conductivity and low expansion, which can be partly used in resistance welding or electrical contacts. EDM and EDM is the most widely used tungsten copper as electrodes. 

According to applications, tungsten copper electrode can be specifically divided into resistance welding electrode, EDM electrode and the electrode of high pressure discharge tube, etc.

 1 .Resistance Welding Electrode

Resistance welding electrode is using thermal resistance for welding, which is produced by the pressure of electrode and current run through contact area or close area. It takes advantage of the thermal resistance to melt or model the work-piece and combined it with metal. Resistance welding can be also divided into four types, such as spot weld, caulk weld, beading weld and butt weld. The material of electrode plays a significant role in resistance welding, which can press the welding parts, supply great amount of current and promote the welding area cool down and so on.

It requires that electrode materials should have good mechanical strength (not be out of shape after stamping), good thermostability (not be out of shape after welding), excellent thermal conductivity (not be easily heat by current) and can not be combined with the welded material (simply not be stick with the welded material). Therefore, tungsten copper could meet a criterion above. In addition, there are some description and rules in the standard of Japanese copper alloy electrode (JIS Z 3234-1999).

2. EDM Electrode

EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) is also called as discharge machining or electric corrosion machining, which uses pulse discharging between electrodes. The principle is that the electrode and the work-piece used as two poles and put the liquid in the gap of discharge, the pulse voltage will puncture the liquid when the distance decreasing