Abstract
We report the results of a study on the influence of oxygen inthe plasma gas used in the plasma arc cutting process on cuts obtained inmild steel plates. Experimental results of shapes of kerfs and the leadingedges of the cut front formed while cutting a 6 mm mild steel plate at100 A with nitrogen, air and oxygen as plasma gases are presented. Theseresults are discussed in the light of the overall energy balance of theprocess. It is found that the exothermic reaction of oxygen in the plasmagas with the iron in mild steel enables the cutting of mild steel at higherspeeds with both air and oxygen than the maximum cutting speed attainablewith nitrogen. A comparison of the melting rates for oxygen with those ofair reveals that although oxygen can produce more exothermal energy byoxidation, oxygen is not superior to air in melting metal near the bottomof the kerf formed at high cutting speeds.The study shows that the dross formed at the bottom of the cut isdetermined by the shape of the cut-front surface over which the moltenmetal from the cut front flows to be ejected at the plate bottom. Anyimprovement of metal ejection to be gained with oxygen as the plasma gasmay be the result of enhanced superheating of the metal melted from thecut-front surface.
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