Handbook-Oxygen Cutting By Machine

2 BASICS OF OXYFUEL CUTTING Q. What is Oxyfuel Cutting? A. Chemical reaction between pure oxygen and steel to form iron oxide. It can be described as rapid, controlled rusting. Q. How does it work’? A. Preheat flames are used to raise the surface or edge of the steel to approximately 1800⁰F (bright red color). Pure oxygen is then directed toward the heated area in a fine, high pressure stream. As the steel is oxidized and blown away to form a cavity, the preheat and oxygen stream are moved at constant speed to form a continuous cut. Q. Can I use oxyfuel to cut any metal? A. No. Only metals whose oxides have a lower melting point than the base metal itself can be cut with this process. Otherwise as soon as the metal oxidizes it terminates the oxidation by forming a protective crust. Only low carbon steel and some low alloys meet the above condition and can be cut effectively with the Oxyfuel process.