Current trends of plasma cutting technology; Plasma setsudan gijutsu no saikin no doko

Plasma arc is produced between the material to be cut and the torch, and the generated thermal energy is used to cut the material. As far as it is conductive, any material can be cut at a high speed. The thickness of the plate that can be handled by this technology is 0.5-50mm, which falls between those that gas or laser can cut. High-speed cutting is the greatest advantage the plasma cutting technology enjoys over other methods. As for the quality of the bevel angle that is the scale for evaluating the quality of a cut surface, which can be traded off for the cutting speed, excellent verticality can now be attained on the cut surface thanks to the now-available high-quality plasma cutting. In plasma cutting, a wider width has to be cut than in other cutting methods, and the width increases in proportion to an increase in the plate thickness, which results in a poor cutting accuracy. The higher cutting speed requires less thermal input in a unit time, however, and this means less deformation due to heat. All considered, laser cutting is the highest in accuracy, then plasma cutting, and finally gas cutting. Plasma cutting is characterized in that it enables non-contact cutting, requires no pre-heating, and allows free torch attitude, all these quite useful for installation on robots and for performing remotely controlled cutting in the water or in a very small, special job place. 4 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab.