Metal is necessary for many objects being built but due to its strength, a cutting system needed to be developed.Plasma cutting has been used for years to meet the needs of configuring metals into proper shapes. They are very prevalent in the automotive industry.
- Conceptually, a plasma cutter is extremely simple.
- Many factories working on military aircraft adopted a new method of welding that involved the use of an inert gas fed through an electric arc.
- The breakthrough discovery was that charging the gas with an electric current formed a barrier around the weld, which protected it from oxidation.
- This new method made for much cleaner lines at the joints and much sturdier construction.
- They figured out that they could boost temperatures by speeding up the flow of gas and shrinking the release hole.
- The new system could reach higher temperatures than any other commercial welder. In fact, at these high temperatures, the tool no longer acted as a welder. Instead, it worked like a saw, cutting through tough metals like a hot knife through butter.
- This introduction of the plasma arc revolutionized the speed, accuracy and types of cuts manufacturers could make in all types of metals
A plasma cutter can pass through metals with little or no resistance thanks to the unique properties of plasma. - If you boost a gas to extremely high temperatures, you get plasma.
- When the fast-moving electrons collide with other electrons and ions, they release vast amounts of energy. This energy is what gives plasma its unique status and unbelievable cutting power.
- Though cool plasma cannot be used to cut metals, it has tons of other useful applications.
- Plasma cutters come in all shapes and sizes. There are monstrous plasma cutters that use robotic arms to make precise incisions.
- Regardless of size, all plasma cutters function on the same principle and are constructed around roughly the same design.
- Plasma cutters work by sending a pressurized gas, such as nitrogen, argon, or oxygen, through a small channel.
- When you apply power to the negative electrode, and you touch the tip of the nozzle to the metal, the connection creates a circuit.
- As the inert gas passes through the channel, the spark heats the gas until it reaches the fourth state of matter. This reaction creates a stream of directed plasma, approximately 30,000 F (16,649 C) and moving at 20,000 feet per second (6,096 m/sec), that reduces metal to molten slag.
- The plasma itself conducts electrical current.
- The cycle of creating the arc is continuous as long as power is supplied to the electrode and the plasma stays in contact with the metal that is being cut.
- In order to ensure this contact, protect the cut from oxidation and regulate the unpredictable nature of plasma, the cutter nozzle has a second set of channels. These channels release a constant flow of shielding gas around the cutting area.
- The pressure of this gas flow effectively controls the radius of the plasma beam.
- Plasma cutters are now a staple of industry.
- They are used largely in custom auto shops as well as by car manufacturers to customize and create chassis and frames.
- Construction companies use plasma cutters in large-scale projects to cut and fabricate huge beams or metal-sheet goods.
- Locksmiths use plasma cutters to bore into safes and vaults when customers have been locked out.
- In the past, plasma cutters were prohibitively expensive and were used primarily for huge metal-cutting jobs.
- In recent years, the cost and size of plasma cutters have dropped considerably, making them available for more personal projects.
- This single tool gives artists the ability to bevel cuts, bore precise holes and cut in just about any way they can conceive.
- The plasma cutter is one of the most interesting and powerful tools developed in the 20th century. Using basic principles of physics to harness the fourth state of matter, the plasma cutter performs with nearly magical results.
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