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Sunday, January 3, 2010

Underwater plasma cutting

Underwater plasma cutting is very much different from normal plasma cutting.Smoke elimination and decrease noise level led to underwater plasma cutting.High power has been used in an attempt to cut underwater.The danger to cutters are very high compared to normal plasma cutting.The high power goes up to 100 Amp for underwater plasma cutting.

The work piece in underwater plasma cutting immersed about 2-3 inches and the torch cut the work piece while immersed in the water.The noise and the arc glare reduce instantly while performing the cutting.Normally the operator cannot fully observed the plasma cutting works and the quality cut are reduced around 20 percent.



Some water surrounding the work piece or the cut zone turn into oxygen and hydrogen and the freed oxygen form a metal oxide after combination with molten metal cut especially aluminium.Those freed hydrogen gas in the water will form a small explosion next to plasma jet after ignition.
There are a lot of safety has to be followed by operator while doing cutting activities underwater.Negligence on the procedure will endanger the operator chance of plasma cutting success as well as their life.