New developments widen the versatility of plasma cutting

Since then, technological advancements have enhanced the capabilities of plasma cutting, earning it a reputation of being easy to use on virtually any metal type, and of being highly productive as well. The countless plasma cutting systems that are employed around the globe today indicate that plasma is now a universally accepted metal cutting process with an incredibly wide range of applications. But while the technology had already been commercially viable for the past five decades, it wasn’t until the last 10 to 15 years that the market witnessed engineering breakthroughs that truly boosted the performance of plasma cutting.

Before exploring one of the most recent developments, let us first take a look at the three plasma technologies –air, conventional mechanized and high definition plasma - that are most widely used in the market today.

Air Plasma

Air plasma systems are primarily designed for manual cutting applications. The power levels of these equipment range from 12 to 120 amps, and even at the lowest output level, air plasma is able to cut materials that are 0.32cm thick. Most of these rely on an inverter power supply technology, allowing them to be portable.

Machine torches are also compatible with air plasma systems, which have electrical interfaces that allow for mechanized cutting applications.

Conventional Mechanized Plasma

Unlike air plasma, conventional mechanized plasma systems are available only with machine-mountable torches, and have more complex interfaces in order to provide better performance when used together with computer- numeric controls (CNC).

Such plasma equipment have output levels ranging from 130 to 1,000 amps, and are designed for high productivity with mid-level tolerances, as well as for cutting non-ferrous materials as thick as 15.9cm. As a result, mechanized plasma is widely utilized in heavy equipment manufacturing operations, shipyards, and steel service centers.

For the most part, this class of plasma systems requires an astute operator as arc voltage, gas flows and pressures, amongst other parameters, must be correctly defined and carefully monitored in order to produce the best and most consistent cut quality. This is because power levels, material thickness, and torch consumables change throughout the process.

High Definition Plasma

Engineers are constantly in the pursuit of enhancing the cut quality, cut speeds, power levels, operating costs and ease-of-use of plasma systems. Within the last two decades, a new category – high definition plasma - emerged as a result of much research and development.

This class first debuted in the early to mid-1990s and is one of the key developments in the history of plasma cutting, besides the introduction of the process itself in 1957 and the introduction of oxygen plasma cutting for carbon steel in 1983.

The new high definition plasma technology essentially works by forcing the plasma arc through a smaller nozzle orifice. Such equipment take advantage of the laws of high temperature physics, allowing for cleaner cut edges while maintaining acceptable torch consumable (nozzle and electrode) life.

The earliest high definition plasma systems were limited in amperage (70 amps maximum) and thickness capacity (0.95cm thickness for steel), and were by today’s standards considered difficult to handle. They required an expert machine operator to monitor and adjust muAir Jordan XIV 14 Shoes