Cutting a metal sheet, regardless of its thickness, is an operation of labor and complex. The equipment used often requires high energy costs and compliance with safety regulations. The quality of the cut does not always satisfy the requirements for products. The section has to be processed, polished, which leads to an increase in the cost.
However, technologies do not stand still, it is increasingly used at enterprises of various industries plasma cutting of metals, which provides high quality cut. The cutting tool of the equipment used for this process is a stream of plasma, the temperature of which can reach 30,000 degrees. It is formed when supplied to an electric arc, lit by a high -frequency pulse, air under a pressure of several atmospheres. In addition to air, gases such as oxygen, argon, nitrogen, water vapor or hydrogen can be used. A variety of media used allows you to create optimal conditions for cutting various metals and alloys.
The main advantages of plasma metal cutting
The spread of plasma cutting of metals is primarily due to its relatively low cost. For this reason, many consumers can evaluate the main advantages of this technology:
high surface quality and cut purity that do not require complex additional processing;
the possibility of processing a wide range of metals, including non -ferrous, alloyed and refractory alloys;
The cutting rate of sheet metal of small and medium thickness is many times exceeds cutting using a gas -flame burner;
lack of deformation of the part due to high temperature due to limited location of the heating site;
the ability to cut out complex geometric shapes;
high level of security associated with the lack of the use of combustible gases.
The quality of plasma cutting of the metal is not inferior to laser cutting, but significantly exceeds this process in economic efficiency.
Equipment for plasma cutting metal
The main equipment for plasma cutting of the metal are CNC machines – plasma cutting devices, which are called plasmoronomas. Sheet metal, which can be processed on these machines, can reach a thickness of up to 200 mm. The size of the sheet, which can be processed by plasmoron, is 2000×8000 mm. It can be sheets of stainless steel, titanium, various alloys. The flame temperature in modern machines ranges from 10,000 to 20,000 degrees, the plasma speed reaches 1,500 m/s, which provides a high metal processing speed. The cut width can be very small, for example, in the workpiece of a width of only 20 mm, a cut can have a width of not more than 2.5 mm. In this case, the temperature deformation of the part is completely excluded. The use of CNC controllers allows you to obtain high accuracy cuts, while the cut shape can be any – from the perfect circle to a complex pattern. One of the advantages of plasmotrons is the lack of need to often replace consumables, which significantly increases the economic efficiency of equipment.
