What Are Gas Cutting Torches?
Gas cutting torches use combustible gases such as acetylene gas and highly concentrated oxygen to oxidize steel plates for cutting.
Because of the flashes of light that occur during gas cutting, a certain amount of safety equipment such as goggles and masks is required, and because flammable gases are used, care must be taken when handling the equipment.
Uses of Gas Cutting Torches
Basically, only steel materials can be cut by gas cutting. Gas cutting machines are used to cut medium to thick steel plates, which take a long time to cut with grinders and other machines.
One of the disadvantages of gas cutting torches is that they are generally hand-held, so they are not very precise.
There are also NC gas cutting torches that can program the cutting position and automatically cut complex shapes.
Principles of Gas Cutting Torches
Gas cutting torches are equipped with hoses that connect to acetylene and oxygen cylinders, and each gas is supplied from the cylinder. The two supplied gases are discharged from the crater at the tip of the gas cutter, one as a mixture of acetylene gas and oxygen for the preheating flame, and one as an oxygen-only gas.
When the gas for the preheating flame is ignited with a special lighter and brought close to the steel, the preheating flame raises the temperature of the steel to 800 to 900 degrees Celsius. As mentioned earlier, high-concentration oxygen is ejected from the center of the preheating flame, so the high-pitched steel material burns and becomes liquid when oxygen is supplied, and is blown away by the high-pressure oxygen. As these reactions occur one after another, the steel plate is cut.
The main advantage of gas cutting torches is that they can cut thicker steel plates than laser cutting.
Another advantage is that gas cutting torches do not require electricity; all that is needed is a gas cutting torch and a gas cylinder, thus reducing the amount of equipment required and making the process more portable.