The emergence of quaternary-compound tungsten electrode, which also called WX4, marks a new area of tungsten electrode material, as well as a revolutionary development of the relevant technology, making the reliability and stability of the electrodes further improved. In 2017, based on the Tri-mix composite rare earth technology, China’s researchers continued to break through the technical barriers and are the first one to add four kinds of different rare earths to tungsten, e.g. lanthanum, cerium, zirconium, and yttrium.
The bold creativity of the research and development personnel allows the electron emission ability of tungsten electrodes to make a timely, stable and continuous performance no matter facing any complex conditions with the action of the mutually complementary four rare earth elements, and the arc burns continuously and steadily, greatly reducing the electrode loss, with long service life and without any radiation pollution, suitable for any argon welding method and all materials, which is favored by the welding industry and others. In 2019 March, the technology was certified by China National Intellectual Property Administration.
Along with the continuous development of welding, military, aerospace fields and others, the technical requirements for electrodes have also improved, the technology has undergone upgrades and updates along with industry trends. For example, from the beginning of the single compound rare earth, to dual-compound type, tri-compound type, and then to quaternary-compound one. Time and time again, technical innovation has tried to add two or more rare earth oxides to the tungsten base, and the organic fusion of these has led to continuous improvement in welding performance, only to make China's tungsten electrode development and improvement achieve better results. The WX4 has the advantages of all-round, environmental protection and burn resistance, and overcomes the shortcomings of current single types, such as cerium tungsten, yttrium tungsten and zirconium tungsten in electron emission, making it stand out from the wide variety of electrode materials and achieving a major breakthrough in the performance of non-radioactive kind. After years of efforts, the emergence of that product has given China a place in the world of independent research and development of such kind of materials.
