Will Thorium Tungsten Electrode Withdraw from Market?

Thorium tungsten electrode is mainly used in DC negative electrode or carbon, stainless steel, nickel alloy, titanium alloy and other positive electrodes. Due to its good operating performance, even if it is suffer from overload current, it still in good operating. However, when AC welding electrodes by thoriated wolfram electrode, welding should be in a fast speed, and users should be careful to avoid direct current soldering react before AC soldering. When AC welding, ball balled will not melt, so its effect is not as good as a liquid ball.

Thorium is used as the main ingredients for thoriated tungsten electrode which exists in mineral in the form of the chemical compounds, and emits α particle. Mass of emitted α particles is much larger than that of the electron, atoms of material will ionize and lose energy by the time the α particle go through it, so its penetration ability is poor, its range is only a few centimeters in the air, as long as a piece of paper or healthy skin to block. Nevertheless, once they are inhaled or injected, it would be very dangerous, which can directly damage cells, tissues of giblets.

China is so far the only country in the world to produce radioactive tungsten electrodes. However, radioactive element is a physical carcinogen, which is likely to bring out gene mutations, resulting in that a normal proto-oncogene and anti-oncogene have mutation, finally cause the cancer cells. Due to varying degrees of radioactive contamination in its production and application, thoriated wolfram electrode withdraw from market is only a matter of time. China has stepped up the controls on thorium mining in a year and a half ago, prohibiting mining the thorium. Thus resulting in the production of material of thoriated wolfram electrode is not enough, the supply is not adequate to the demand, and price rose sharply. In addition, currently ranked second usage is cerium tungsten electrode, which does not produce radioactive contamination, and belongs to green products, it only need a very small current that it can easily arcing, and dimensional arc current is relatively small. At low current DC conditions, cerium tungsten electrode enjoys a great popular in the world. On the other hand, thorium is a potential nuclear fuel which is widely distributed in the earth's crust, and it is a promising energy materials in the future.

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